On November,13th 2024, Anja B. Riber participated in the NordCAW Poultry Welfare Conference 2024, at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) in Uppsala, Sweden. Her oral communication was entitled "What’s on the European poultry welfare agenda". The talk addressed specific poultry welfare topics that are currently of interest to many EU stakeholders, including growth rate of broilers, on-farm hatching; male layer chicks, keel bone fracture, end-of-cage age, mutilation, enrichment and assessment of positive welfare.   The conclusions were that: 1) topics important to the welfare of poultry in the EU are discussed, 2) there are, not surprisingly, some gaps of knowledge, 3) solutions for improving poultry welfare often exist, but progress still seems slow likely because of the clash with other interests, such as economy and the climate change agenda.    The presentation was part of the subactivity 1.1 Network building.  

The fourth Reflection Board meeting between representatives of RB organisations (from the EU Platform on Animal Welfare) and the EURCAW-Poultry-SFA was held remotely via Teams on October, 22th 2024 afternoon.   In total 10 participants, five of them from the seven EU platform entities forming the RB (one participant represented two entities), two from DG SANTE (as observers), and three from EURCAW-Poultry-SFA, were connected.   This meeting was the occasion to present the work achieved by the Centre since the last meeting, the new Work Programme proposal of the Centre, and to exchange, discuss and identify possible future collaborations and interests.   The presentations is available  here. The topics discussed can be found in the meeting report here.   

Organized by EURCAW-Poultry-SFA. The webinar was held via Teams. Target audience: Official inspectors from the Competent Authorities of the EU MSs. Attendance through invitation only.   The PDF of the presentation is available here. The webinar recording will be available here.    Description:  Current European Union legislation on welfare of animals at the time of killing requires stunning before slaughter to render the animals unconscious, and thus insensible to pain, until death occurs. One of the main challenges in monitoring the state of consciousness is selecting the animal-based indicators that ensure consistent assessments.  This webinar aims to pinpoint the most relevant indicators, method and recommendations to assess the state of consciousness after electrical stunning of rabbits. It draws on findings from a comprehensive scientific study conducted at 16 commercial slaughterhouses across the European Union. The session will also cover the effectiveness of stunning, highlighting the primary factors that contribute to its success. Participants will have the opportunity to engage in discussions and address any questions or concerns.    Schedule:   10:00: General presentation of the EURCAW-Poultry SFA - Virginie Michel   10:15: Introduction to electrical stunning in rabbits and indicators – Antonio Velarde   10:20: Scientific study: refinement of indicators and efficiency of stunning - Alexandra Contreras-Jodar   10:30: Methods and recommendations - Alexandra Contreras-Jodar and Virginie Michel     The webinar was attended by 118 people (164 registered), from 14 EU Member States and 2 EFTA countries:   Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden      This webinar has been organized within the sub-activity 4.2: Development of course material for specific topics, of the working program 2023-2024.  

The Centre is celebrating the publication of its seventh scientific article as a result of the work carried out in Activity 3 in 2023-2024.  This study evaluated the validity, inter-assessor reliability and intra-assessor repeatability of three visual scoring systems for litter quality, one known as the Welfare Quality Assessment Protocol© and two complementary systems for friability and humidity developed by the ClassyFarm initiative.   This article named "The assessment of litter quality in broiler chickens: validity, inter-assessor reliability, and intra-assessor repeatability of three visual scoring systems" has been published in British Poultry Science and is available here.

More information can be found on the website of the Italian National Reference Laboratory (NRL) on Honey Bee Health. As of November 19 2024, five new apiaries have been confirmed positive for Aethina tumida infestation in the municipality of Messina (Figure 1). In all 11 apiaries and three sentinel nuclei have been confirmed positive for SHB infestation. Figure 1. The surveillance activity of A. tumida infestation in Sicily (as of November 19 2024). Please click on the figure to access the map with a higher resolution. More information: The map of surveillance carried out for A. tumida in Calabria and Sicily regions (as of November 19 2024) The map of 30 km protection zone for monitoring A. tumida in Calabria (as of November 19 2024) As of November 5 2024, five new apiaries have been confirmed positive for Aethina tumida infestation in the municipality of Messina (Figure 1). Two of them are located at the frontier with the municipality of Villafranca Tirrena. Figure 1. The surveillance activity of A. tumida infestation in Sicily (as of November 5 2024). Please click on the figure to access the map with a higher resolution. More information: The map of surveillance carried out for A. tumida in Calabria and Sicily regions (as of November 5 2024) The map of 30 km protection zone for monitoring A. tumida in Calabria (as of November 5 2024) On October 9 2024, two sentinel nuclei were confirmed positive for Aethina tumida infestation in Eastern Sicily, within the coastal municipality of Messina (Figure 1). A total of 25 larvae and adults were detected as part of the surveillance system in place on the island. No information is currently available on the origin of the infestation. These sentinel nuclei were destroyed and the surrounding soil treated with permethrin. On October 28, an apiary was confirmed positive in the same municipality and on October 29, an additional sentinel nucleus (both located approx. 10 km northward to the previous one) was confirmed positive for Small Hive Beetle infestation. In response, a protection zone of 20 km radius was established around the initial outbreak site with restricted movements in and out of the area. Surveillance efforts have been intensified within the protection zone and across the rest of Sicily and are ongoing.     Figure 1. The surveillance activity of A. tumida infestation in Sicily (as of October 29 2024). Please click on the figure to access the map with a higher resolution.   In the mainland, as of October 29 2024, six apiaries and six sentinel nuclei within the protection zone (30 km radius) in the Province of Reggio Calabria were found to be infested (Figures 2 & 3), with detections occurring between late January and June. Among the affected apiaries, two were confirmed positive on two separate occasions over the season. Only adult beetles were detected in these cases.   Figure 2. The 30 km protection zone for monitoring A. tumida in Calabria (as of October 29 2024).  Please click on the figure to access the map with a higher resolution.   Figure 3. The surveillance carried out for A. tumida in Calabria and Sicily regions (as of October 29 2024). Please click on the figure to access the map with a higher resolution.        

The EU RL for Bee Health held its 14th annual workshop on 24th October 2024 in Sophia Antipolis (France). The participants had the pleasure to listen to two presentations of NRLs’ activities and the current honey bee health status in Belgium by Severine Matthijs (Head of the Belgium NRL) and in Slovakia by Miriam Kantikova (representative of the Slovakian NRL). Franco Mutinelli, head of the Italian NRL, presented an overview of 10 years living with SHB Calabria region.  This year, a focus was done on bacteriology activities. The EU RL presented the results of an inter-laboratory proficiency test organised for the NRL network in 2023. Delphine Panziera, head of the Dutch NRL, showed the results of a national study on the prevalence of P. larvae in the Netherlands. The EU RL also presented highlights of two scientific conferences on bee health held in 2024 (Apimondia in June and EurBee in September). The workshop ended by the presentation of the EU RL activities during the last period and the work perspectives. We warmly thank all the speakers for their interesting presentations and all the contributors for the fruitful discussions.   Documents and presentations of the workshop can be found here for the NRL network.

We are pleased to announce that authors of selected oral presentations at the Foodborne Bacterial Toxins International Symposium will be invited to submit a full article for consideration in a special issue of the International Journal of Food Microbiology. Submissions will undergo the standard peer-review process, ensuring the highest scientific standards. The special issue will be guest-edited by experts NIA Yacine, HENNEKINNE Jacques Antoine, and RAJKOVIC Andreja. This is a unique opportunity for authors to contribute to a high-impact publication in the field.

The fifth EU-network meeting between representatives of EU MS Competent Authorities (CAs) and the EURCAW-Poultry-SFA, took place virtually on October 01-02, 2024 on 2 *0,5 days. In total 49 participants, from 22 EU MSs participated, including 29 delegates from CAs, 13 from EURCAW-Poultry-SFA, and 7 observers: one DG SANTE unit G5 representatives, three EFSA representatives, and three EFTA representatives.    This meeting was the occasion to present the Centre’s work performed since the last meeting in 2023. Furthermore, it permitted participants to discuss potential future priority areas of work, identify possible collaboration at the national level, and identify the main needs and expectations of CAs.    The presentations are available here. The report is available here.  

As part of its WOAH and FAO mandates, the EURL for FMD took part in the Regional Advisory Group (RAG) meeting dedicated to Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR). The meeting, organized by WOAH and FAO, took place from July 2 to 4, 2024 in Baku, Azerbaijan. Several delegations took part in the meeting (Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Russia), as did WOAH and FAO officials associated with the region, and the European Commission for the Control of Foot-and-Mouth Disease (EuFMD). The EURL was represented by Guillaume Girault, project leader in the Biopic team, who presented recent foot and mouth disease events and outbreaks observed around the world, with a particular focus on outbreaks detected in Western Eurasia in recent years. Numerous exchanges took place concerning the two diseases covered by this meeting. A field simulation exercise was also carried out by the Azeri veterinary services, with the deployment of mobile laboratories, surveillance of wildlife using drones, and the setting up of a crisis unit. The participation of the Foot and Mouth Disease EURL at this meeting enabled contacts to be established with several colleagues from other countries, opening the door to potential future collaborations.

On June 11, 2024, the EURL for FMD organized a webinar with EuFMD on the Emergency diagnosis: interpretation of FMD tests results. Fifteen participants from 15 different countries we invited fr this 4 hours webinar. Labib Bakkali Kassimi (EURL Director) presented the EURL activities and the FMD emergency diagnosis. Then, Aurore Romey and Guillaume Girault presented three different simulation exercises: the first one was dedicated to WOAH type laboratory (live virus) and with the presentation of almost all available methods to detect and characterize FMDV. The Mentimeter tool was used to ask questions to participants and analyze the answers in real time. Then, the second scenario was similar to the first one, again with the mentimeter tool for questions, but without so much help from EURL for the answers. Finally, the third scenario was dedicated to serological analyses. This webinar was highly appreciated by participants and will may be scheduled again in the future.