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.