Recent developments in animal welfare assessment

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.

Photo: local organisers Dionne Ruijter and Jamie Kater (EURCAW-Pigs) receive thanks for their work from Dr. Toni Dalmau (IRTA), who is the new Chair of WQN