Spring 2004 Newsletter : Working Group Reports

Working Group 5 - Meat Quality

On this occasion, the meeting was held during the joint symposia on The Quality of Poultry Meat and The Quality of Eggs and Egg Products at Saint-Brieuc, France, 23 - 26 September 2003. Together, the two symposia attracted more than 220 participants, including many from outside Europe, who enjoyed wide-ranging scientific programmes that encompassed both basic and applied research in these fields. The business meeting of the Working Group was attended by some 20 members and, for the first time, the Croatian Branch was represented. 
The Chairman, Prof Michael Grashorn, reviewed the aims and objectives of the Group, as set out in a draft document. The document was discussed and accepted, following minor revision. It was recognised, however, that the Group currently needed to give more attention to the effects of processing on meat quality and to coverage of microbiological aspects of quality. The latter would relate to extensive research being carried out in Europe on the microbiological safety of poultry meat and future interest in spoilage and shelf life. The next symposium would aim to devote a day to microbiological topics for poultry and eggs, and special arrangements were made for coordinating this activity. The Group also considered standardising available methods for measuring meat quality attributes, starting with a comparison of methods for texture measurement. It was anticipated that there would be a preliminary discussion of initial data at the next meeting. 
The issue of classifying carcasses according to the degree of ossification of the sternum was discussed. Some data had been obtained for chicken and guinea fowl, and work would continue with a comparison of fast- and slow-growing broiler strains. In each case, it was important to determine the precise age at which the sternum became clearly ossified. 
Those sessions of the forthcoming World Congress that were relevant to meat quality were outlined by Prof Servet Yalcin and progress in arranging the Congress in Istanbul was reported. This would be the venue for the next meeting of the Group, which would establish the place and time for the seventeenth symposium in the meat quality series. 

Geoff Mead 

New Working Group 13 - Ratites

We are informed that, after one year of contacts between the Board of the Association and during the 10th World Ostrich Congress held in Vienna on 18th and 19th October 2003, a new Working Group No.13 (Ratites), including ostriches, emus and rheas, has been created within the European Federation of WPSA. Dr Fritz Huchzermeyer (South Africa) was unanimously elected as chairman and Mr Eduardo Carbajo (Spain) as secretary.

• Work for the best interests of Ratite science, farming and industry. 
• Represent Ratite science and industry through communication, dissemination of information and provision of standards for production and animal welfare. 
• Support research marketing and promotion within the Ratite farming and associated industries.
• Establish, inside the Working Group, different task groups and knowledge areas (improve farming conditions, farming production and rearing methods; improve the breeding under winter Palaearctic conditions and genetic and productivity improvement; study diseases and the transport and welfare of ratites ). 

Interested WPSA members are invited to join the Group by contacting the Secretary Mr Eduardo Carbajo, email: ecarbajo@hispavista.com, or write to him at: c / Pandora nº 17, 28230 Madrid, Spain.

*Effectively The Incubation and Fertility Research Group, whose open meetings are organized by the two UK representatives (see report of last meeting on previous page).