The European Federation of Branches of the WPSA organises two main activities - European Poultry Conferences ( the next is in Bremen next September) and Working Groups. Nine Working Groups, drawing specialists from all European Branches, now consider, report on and make recommendations on specific areas of poultry science. Working Groups have been increasingly active in promoting Symposia on their subjects and a number have been held recently in various European countries.

The UK Branch’s current representation was detailed in our Spring 2001 Newsletter, so that members can identify and, perhaps, communicate with our representatives. In order to give a flavour of what is achieved by these Groups, we have asked our representatives to send in short reports on their recent activities. The first of these now appear below:

Report on Working Group 9 - Poultry Welfare from Mr Arnold Elson

This group has one or two members from most European countries. It generally meets in January each year at or near one of the centres (often R&D ones) where members are based, and sometimes mid-year at a convenient conference/event if sufficient members are present. The last meeting was in January 2001 at Tours, France and the next will be at Copenhagen, Denmark in January 2002. These gatherings enable members to share R&D experiences and plans, exchange information on welfare developments and encourage R&D where there are gaps in our knowledge. A major activity is the organisation of the WPSA European poultry welfare symposium every 4 years - see below; we also arrange welfare sessions at WPSA European conferences (e.g. we are organising a session at Bremen 2002) and World congresses.

6th European WPSA Symposium on Poultry Welfare, Zollikofen, Switzerland. 1-4 September 2001

149 poultry scientists and other delegates (including 30 from the UK) attended from 20 countries to take part in 2 workshops - on furnished cages and organic poultry and 4 sessions - on welfare aspects of laying hen housing , poultry meat production , feeding poultry and feather pecking and cannibalism. There was also an informative poster session (30 were presented with prizes for the best 3 of them) and technical visits to four Swiss poultry farms. Copies of the proceedings (360 pp with 45 papers plus the posters) and a list of delegates are available. Social events during the symposium provided opportunities for helpful exchanges of information.

Report on Working Group 5 - Meat Quality from Prof Geoff Mead

A meeting of Working Group 5 was convened during the 15th European Symposium (see below) and a discussion held on the future role of the Group. It was agreed that the Group could play an important part in co-ordinating research activities on meat quality and facilitate collaborative studies. Also, it was felt that the Group should be able to provide authoritative statements on key scientific issues when controversy or misunderstanding arose; a mechanism for doing so was considered. Finally, the Working Group would continue to organise the biennial meat quality symposia and to provide both speakers and chairmen for these events. The next symposium in the series will be held in St Brieuc, France, in 2003, and initial arrangements are underway.

The 15th European Symposium on the Quality of Poultry Meat, Kusadasi, Turkey. 9 - 12 September 2001.

The meeting was arranged to coincide with the corresponding egg quality symposium and the joint symposia were attended by more than 200 delegates from 24 countries, both within and outside Europe. The scientific sessions of the meat symposium covered all the major factors that affect product quality, as well as current knowledge of the structure, composition and functional properties of poultry meat in relation to product manufacture. Recent advances in meat processing technology were also discussed. In addition, consideration was given to the development of modern quality assurance systems and the current status of relevant EU legislation. Because of present interest in the globalisation of trade, a special scientific forum was devoted to the problems associated with international trade in poultry products.

More reports in the next Newsletter.