The Institute at EFSA meeting on animal welfare

Upon EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) invitation, some experts from the "Human and animal relationship and animal welfare" laboratory of the G. Caporale Institute attended the technical meeting, held in Parma on the 4^th and 5^th of July 2012, on the assessment of animal welfare through the use of "animal-based" measures.

The European Commission manifests an increasing interest towards the evaluation of welfare through "animal-based" measures, that is to say, directly based on the animal's conditions as opposed to the environment in which the animal lives or the handling procedures to which it is subjected, as done in the past.

Experts from the major European research groups, engaged in the study of animal welfare, have attended the meeting. Its aim was to gather information on welfare indicators, based on animals and currently in use at a European level, and select those considered to be the best for relevance, feasibility and accuracy.

Measures selected by the experts during the meeting will be used by EFSA to implement procedures regarding risk evaluation, and identify and apply preventive measures protecting livestock welfare.