The Kick-off Meeting took place on February 26-27 2020 in Billund-Denmark. Each partner presented his team and the preparation of each activity was discussed.  It was also the opportunity to discuss with European Commission and start to work all together in a friendly environment.    

In October 2019, the European Commission has designated a second Reference Centre dedicated to the welfare of poultry and other small farmed animals (Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1685). The European Union Reference Centre for Animal Welfare for Poultry and other small farmed animals (EURCAW-Poultry-SFA) aims at improving the enforcement of the EU legislation applicable to those animals, such as laying hens, chickens for meat production, and other small farmed animals, including their transport and killing operations.

We are glad to announce the publication of this article: Comparison of the ISO method and three modifications of it for the enumeration of low concentrations of Listeria monocytogenes in naturally contaminated foods. This project conducted in the frame of the EURL Lm mandate in collaboration with different NRLs in particular from Cyprus, Czech Republic and Norway.

The First Meeting between the European Reference Centre for Animal Welfare for Poultry and other small farmed animals and the competent authorities was organized on September 16th-19th 2020 in Mandelieu (France). This meeting was the occasion to present the Centre’s objectives, activities and work program and retrieve from every participant their main topic of interest, concerns, needs and questioning regarding the implementation of the legislation regarding the welfare of poultry and small farmed animals and about the functioning of the Centre. The work of the Centre is fully dedicated to fulfilling the need of the competent authorities in the field of implementation of animal welfare legislation.  

The European Reference Centre for Animal Welfare for Poultry and other small farmed animals (EURCAW-Poultry-SFA) has been launched on February 1st 2020. This Centre is composed of Anses (France, coordinator), IRTA (Spain, deputy), IZSLER (Italy) and Aarhus University (Denmark). EURCAW-Poultry-SFA was designated by the European Union on October 4 2019  through Regulation (EU) 2019/1685, in accordance with Articles 95 and 96 of Regulation (EU) 2017/625,  to support the European Commission and member states in the applications of legislation regarding poultry and other small farmed animals welfare. The Centre covers farming, transport and slaughter of poultry, rabbits, and other small farmed animals. The Centre will: 1) offer technical and scientific assistance to competent authorities (and their supporting bodies) of all members states, regarding all aspects of welfare legislation implementation; 2) work on establishment and validation of welfare indicators for official controls; 3) perform some specific scientific studies; 4) provide specific training for inspection services; 5) disseminate innovation and knowledge. ​For more details, read work programme 2020.

EFSA published the scientific opinion on "The public health risk posed by Listeria monocytogenes in frozen fruit and vegetables including herbs, blanched during processing". We may note that this opinion refers to the EURL Lm guides, as well as to the Standard EN ISO 18593. Hereafter the links to access the EFSA news and opinion.

Message from  the organizing committee: Hope this message finds you all well in this particular moment, when the world is facing an unprecedented health emergency.  While the countries are struggling with the pandemic and many of us are involved in confronting the crisis in the front line, I believe it is also time to start thinking about our lives once the situation will revert to normality. At some point COVID-19 will be past history and we will all want to get back to the interaction and collaboration with colleagues. As a matter of fact, this is the way science is fed with passion and boosted with new ideas. As you all may be informed, we have moved our “Science meets Policy” conference: Modern technologies to enable response to crises: Next Generation Sequencing to tackle food-borne diseases in the EU to Sept 25, 2020, which seems a reasonable lapse of time for the backlashes of this crisis to be over and now we have re-opened the link for the online registration. We are aware that the actual necessity of keeping people apart led to cancellation of many events and that this will cause the second half of the year 2020 to be packed with conferences and physical meetings here and there, but at the same time we think that if we have learnt something from the pandemic is that the only winning strategy is preparedness and that this can only be achieved in peace times rather than being forced to make decisions under the pressure of an ongoing crisis. In this frame, I believe it is important that we get back to where we left when Italy was first blasted by the COVID-19 cases and we took the decision to postpone the conference. Indeed, I think we really need to discuss altogether the importance to have a proper technical and political framework for the Authorities to make decisions on the basis of NGS data.  This is certainly true for food-borne infections but definitely applies to any infectious disease. I take the occasion to wish you all the best and I really hope to see you all in the wonderful city of Rome next  September 25 But stay safe at home for the moment Stefano Morabito Director, European Reference Laboratory for E. coli  

[relayed from USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service] The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is conducting its biennial review of the select agents and toxins registration list.  The Agricultural Bioterrorism Protection Act of 2002 requires the evaluation every two years of all potential animal or plant select agents based on their effects on health, production and marketability of the animals or plants, their ability to cause disease, and whether countermeasures or treatments are available. As outlined in the 2018 Farm Bill, the agency will also evaluate potential select agents based on whether inclusion on the list would have a substantial negative impact on the research and development of solutions for the animal or plant disease caused by the agent or toxin. Agents on the select agents list and are subject to strong regulations on use and movement in order to protect the American public and agriculture.  APHIS is seeking public feedback on the current list, and whether any updates are appropriate.  Specifically, APHIS would like input on the following select agents, which we are considering removing from the list: Peronosclerospora philippinensis (Peronosclerospora sacchari) African horse sickness virus Bacillus anthracis (Pasteur strain) Brucella abortus, Brucella suis, and Brucella melitensis; and Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus.  In the Federal Register posting, APHIS provides background on each of these select agents and the reason(s) they might be appropriate to remove from the list. To view this information and provide comment, visit http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=APHIS-2019-0018.  After a 60-day public comment period, all feedback will be shared with APHIS’s working groups to consider during the review process. After completing the review, APHIS will either republish the list or propose changes through the rulemaking process.

During last weeks, the EURL team prepared actively a large-scale multicentric comparison of porcine ELISA kits involving 25 participating laboratories and 5 different kits. Shipments have been performed this week, with following key figures: - 1030 mL of porcine sera ; - 3432 aliquots prepared, labeled and sorted before shipment ;  - 4 panels of 20 aliquots per lab. Homogeneity of panels as well as stability conditions will be tested by the EURL team. Work is ongoing !

During the last week of February, the OIE-EU-FAO Reference Laboratory for brucellosis welcomed at ANSES two trainees from the Central Veterinary Laboratory of Conakry (LCVD, Guinea) for one-week training in brucellosis serology and molecular biology. Our administrative (MF. Devaux), technical (M. Ribeiro, F. Petot-Bottin, L. Perrot) and scientific (A. Ferreira-Vicente, L. Freddi; G. Girault, C. Ponsart) team is mobilized for the success of this 2-year twinning project supported by OIE. This training session followed a first mission carried out by C. Ponsart and G. Girault, in January 2020 at LCVD. This kick-off meeting aimed at making an inventory of diagnostic skills, as well as quality and biosafety management systems. Other activities are planned for 2020 in this context (participation to PTs, continued transfer of skills). The exemplary implication of the whole ANSES team for this ongoing project must be underlined. The collaboration with LCVD will give our EURL team the opportunity to better understand other epidemiological contexts, thus strengthening our training experience and skills.