2018-09-17
For three days, pig and poultry professionals convened for an international seminar at Embrapa Suínos e Aves in Concórdia, Santa Catarina, to discuss the implementation of good practices in pig and poultry transport and gas stunning in the agribusiness sector and in the Official Veterinary Service. “Meetings like this help to disseminate new ideas, to learn about the challenges faced by the private sector and to exchange experiences and concepts that guide future decisions," said Lizie Buss, head of the Animal Welfare Commission at MAPA (Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply).
Day one focused on the issue of animal stunning. One of the first topics discussed was the scientific update on animal welfare related to pig gas-stunning procedures, followed by an approach on physiological responses to the use of stunning gas and its pros and cons: economic investments, welfare and pork quality. Presentations were delivered by researchers Mohan Raj, from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), and Antonio Velarde Calvo, from the Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology of Catalonia (IRTA).
The experts then discussed identification and correction of management failures, global trends in methods of pigs stunning and control hotspots (indicators of animal welfare). In closing, two checklists prepared by the project members supported by the European Union-Brazil Sector Dialogues Facility were presented. One of them refers to the industry-monitoring guide and the other to the inspection guide for the Official Veterinary Service.
The topic in Day two was poultry stunning, and it followed the same agenda as the previous day. On Day three, the agenda covered terrestrial transport of pigs and poultry in Europe, with the participation of Professors Raj and Velarde Calvo, followed by Embrapa researcher Osmar Dalla Costa, consultant Victor Lima, from BEA Consultoria, and Professor Iran Oliveira, from Nupea/Esalq/USP, who discussed good transport practices for pigs and poultry in Brazil.
Charli Ludke, the Coordinator-General for Value Added of MAPA’s Department for Development of Supply Chains and Sustainable Production, said that “she was very glad to note the significant progress in Brazil’s animal welfare research, with a wealth of data to contribute for transport, harvesting and management enhancement. This goes to show that we are making progress, we are on the right track.”
Charli Ludke believes that an ongoing training agenda should be created and that the unified health concept should be developed. “This should consider not only the welfare of animals, but also that of the people involved, by reducing the environmental impact and making rational use of drugs such as antimicrobials and antibiotics. And there can be no rational use without sound welfare programmes in poultry and pig farming,” she explained.
Lizie Buss presented on the need for making headway in this area, and by comparing Europe and Brazil she believes that “many European research programmes help to design internal procedures,” but also that “they should be evaluated in terms of adequacy to our local settings since our climate and culture are different, which makes people have different attitudes towards animals.”
According to Lizie, Brazil has strengths and weaknesses compared to the EU. She stressed the issue of chicken and poultry harvesting. “We harvest poultry by the back, which is the best harvesting practice in the world, and this reflects how we care for our chickens. Other lines of research show that our open, screen-based aviaries, which are considered conventional, yield much better results for poultry than the European closed systems that are in use in Belgium, for instance, “she explained.
Embrapa researcher Osmar Dalla Costa described the seminar as "a success in terms of attendance and the quality of discussions, especially when it comes to international speakers."
The event was held by Embrapa Suínos e Aves and MAPA, with support from the EU- Brazil Sector Dialogues Facility and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).
*Information by Embrapa’s Press Office.
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