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        As 2022 comes to an end, let the festivities begin !  The EURL team wishes you the best for the year to come : A year full of health, joy and success, as well as cooperation and scientific discoveries !   See you in 2023 !

The second Reflection Board meeting between representatives of the Reflection Board (RB) organizations (from the EU Platform on Animal Welfare) and the EURCAW-Poultry-SFA, was held remotely via Teams on November, 18th 2022 afternoon. In total 12 participants, seven of them from seven EU platform entities forming the RB, and four from EURCAW-Poultry-SFA were connected. One representative from DG SANTE attended as an observer.   This meeting was the occasion to remind the objectives of the Centre, present the Centre’s activities since the last meeting, discuss future possible work topics for next years, and identify possible future collaboration and interests. Two presentations were given by the Reflection Board.   The topics discussed can be found in the meeting report.  The presentations are available and combined here.  

The third EU-network meeting between representatives of EU Member States (MSs) Competent Authorities (CAs) and the EURCAW-Poultry-SFA, took place in Palma (Spain) on September, 28-29, 2022 for 1,5 days. In total 59 participants, from 19 EU MSs participated, including 26 delegates from CAs, and 14 from EURCAW-Poultry-SFA. One EFTA representative attended as an observer. This meeting was the occasion to present the objectives of the Centre, and the work performed since the last meeting. Furthermore, it permitted 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 topics discussed can be found in the meeting report.  The presentations are available here.  

The next 26 to 29 June 2023, will take place the eleven European Symposium on Poultry Welfare in Prague (Czech Republic). 9 sessions are planned:   Welfare – part of poultry production sustainability Welfare assessment (labelling, traceability, precision livestock farming, smart technologies) Main welfare challenges (feather pecking, beak trimming, keel bone, bone strength in broilers) Poultry killing, transport, slaughtering Poultry breeding and welfare, epi-genetics, transgenic, ethics, editing genome Alternative strategies to the killing of day-old male chicks Welfare of day-old chicks, early nutrition and on-farm hatching Poultry behaviour, cognition, enrichment Best practices for poultry housing and management   More information is available on the event website: https://www.espw2023.org/

In 2021 there was an overall increase in reported cases of zoonotic diseases and foodborne outbreaks compared to the previous year, but levels are still well below those of the pre-pandemic years.The general drop compared to pre-pandemic years in reported cases and outbreaks is probably linked to COVID-19 control measures, which were still in place in 2021. Among the few exceptions are the number of cases for yersiniosis and those of foodborne listeriosis outbreaks, which exceeded pre-pandemic levels. Concerning Listeria monocytogenes, on the one hand the number of outbreaks caused by Listeria monocytogenes (23) was the highest ever reported. This might be linked to the increased use of whole genome sequencing techniques, which allow scientists to better detect and define outbreaks. On the other hand, the number of confirmed cases of human listeriosis in 2021 was 2183, corresponding to an EU notification rate of 0,49 per 100,000 population and resulting in an increase of 14% in the notification rate compared with the rate in 2020. Fewer cases were reported in 2020, which could partially beexplained by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on national healthcare systems and the withdrawalof the United Kingdom from the EU. The EU One Health 2021 Zoonoses  report is available on the EFSA website or ECDC website. Published with the brand new interactive tools on Listeria monocytogenes: EFSA STORY MAP on Listeria monocytogenes  -> News on EFSA and ECDC websites.

On Thursday 27 October the Welfare Quality Network held its annual seminar on animal welfare indicators. This year the meeting was jointly organized by the three EURCAWs and held in Wageningen, The Netherlands.   The target audience consisted of scientific institutes who act as support bodies to their governments on animal welfare issues. In addition, the meeting was attended by representatives from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the Dutch Competent Authority (NVWA), and industry aiming to improve welfare assessment through quality schemes. Around 40 people were physically present and 30 attended on-line.   Twelve speakers addressed the most recent developments in practical application of animal-based measures. The day started with presentations about animal welfare in the Netherlands and trademarks developed to assess animal welfare in Europe. The second half of the morning presentations were given about manual Welfare Quality assessments. The afternoon focused on research into the use of sensors for Welfare Quality assessments. For example, the use of camera’s, RFID, and other non-invasive sensor technologies.   Alexandra Contreras-Jodar had the opportunity to present the Centre's work on Relevant indicators of consciousness in broiler chicken after waterbath stunning.    Abstracts are available here.  Photo: local organizers Dionne Ruijter and Jamie Kater (EURCAW-Pigs) receive thanks for their work from Dr. Toni Dalmau (IRTA), who is the new Chair of WQN

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 is available here.    Description: Council Regulation (EC) No 1099/2009 of 24 September 2009 on the protection of animals at the time of killing requires assessing the state of consciousness of the animals in order to identify if the stunning and killing have been effectively done, but it is not an easy assessment. During this webinar, EURCAW-Poultry-SFA reviewed the most valid, reliable, and feasible indicators to assess the state of consciousness after waterbath stunning (WBS) of turkeys, before and after bleeding, giving the opportunity for discussion and doubts resolution.   The aim of the webinar was to: Review the most valid indicators of consciousness after WBS. Discuss the main results of the EURCAW-Poultry-SFA study on test inter-observer repeatability and feasibility of the indicators of consciousness evaluated in commercial slaughterhouses. Discuss the impact of electrical key parameters on stunning efficiency. Recommend ABIs and their methods of assessment (where and how to do the assessment, during how much time, how to do the sampling), and best practices,  providing video examples.   The webinar was attended by 70 people (86 registered), from 13 EU Member States: Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Malta, The Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Spain, and Sweden.   Schedule: 10:00-10:10: General presentation of the Centre - V. Michel 10:10-10:20: Indicators of consciousness - A. Velarde 10:20-10:30: Technical study - A. Contreras 10:30-10:45: Methods and recommendations - A. Varvaró and V. Michel 10:45-12:00: Discussion   This webinar has been organized within the sub-activity 4.3: Develop course material for specific topics, of the working program 2021-2022.  

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Maecenas porttitor congue massa. Fusce posuere, magna sed pulvinar ultricies, purus lectus malesuada libero, sit amet commodo magna eros quis urna. Nunc viverra imperdiet enim. Fusce est. Vivamus a tellus. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Proin pharetra nonummy pede. Mauris et orci. Aenean nec lorem. In porttitor. Donec laoreet nonummy augue. Suspendisse dui purus, scelerisque at, vulputate vitae, pretium mattis, nunc. Mauris eget neque at sem venenatis eleifend. Ut nonummy.

The three EURCAWs (EURCAW Ruminants & Equines, EURCAW Pigs, and EURCAW Poultry-SFA) hosted the second workshop with National Reference Centres for Animal Welfare and the Competent Authorities’ Supporting Bodies on 13 September 2022. In total 89 participants from 22 Member States participated, including 24 members from the three EURCAWs, and three delegates from DG SANTE of the European Commission.   The aims of the meeting were to increase collaboration, facilitate knowledge exchange, and to get input to the next work programmes for the three EURCAWs.   The report is available here.  The slides from this meeting are available here.