The Institute at the EFSA meeting on identification of welfare indicators for monitoring procedures at slaughterhouses

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), under request of the European Commission, organised an information meeting to show the state of the art of the drafting of a Scientific Opinion on the identification of welfare indicators for monitoring procedures at slaughterhouses. This opinion will be used as a basis for the development of EU guidelines concerning monitoring procedures at slaughterhouses, that will provide help to business operators in fulfilling the requirements of the Regulation 1099/2009, became applied since the 1^st of January of this year.

The meeting was held in Parma on the 30^th of January 2013. A large number of experts participated in the event: representatives from Competent Authorities of the Member States, Commission officers, representative of the private sector (both farmers and slaughterhouse business operator) and of the NGOs involved in the protection of animals, and scientific expert coming from the main research institutions in Europe. One expert from the Human-Animal Relationship and Animal Welfare Laboratory of the of the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell'Abruzzo e del Molise "G. Caporale" also participated in the event.

All experts were asked to actively participate in the process of development of the EFSA Scientific Opinion. A questionnaire was provided to all participants to receive inputs about the best combinations of animal welfare indicators to be used at the slaughterhouse to ensure that stunning and bleeding are performed correctly. All data collected during the meeting will be used to develop the EFSA Opinion.

The EFSA Scientific Opinion, and the guidelines for monitoring procedures at slaughterhouse that will be derived from it, will provide a valuable help to all business operators and Competent Authorities to follow the requirement of the Regulation 1099/2009 and then to improve the welfare of animals at the time of slaughter.