The Entomology and Invasive Plants Unit of the ANSES Plant Health Laboratory, in collaboration with CIRAD, INRAe, French Ministery of Agriculture and the Royal Museum of Central Africa (Belgium) organised the 4th TEAM meeting (Tephritid workers of Europe, Africa and Middle-East) from 5 to 9 October at the Palais des Congrès in La Grande-Motte (France). Fruit flies (Tephritidae) are the pests with the biggest economic impact on the world production and trade of fruit and vegetables. For this 4th meeting, the Scientific Committee decided to include in the programme the invasive species Drosophila suzukii (Drosophilidae) which share same biological characteristics with Tephritidae. Despite the sanitary context, this event was maintained in this International Year of Plant Health thanks to the combination of face-to-face meetings for about twenty participants and a free webinar for participants unable to travel to France. Participation in this webinar exceeded all expectations with over 500 registered participants from more than 70 countries and sessions with more than 300 connections! The TEAM meeting allowed scientists from all continents to attend high-level presentations and to exchange, despite the distance, their questions and considerations. Those present on site enjoyed a technical and cultural visit to the French Institute of Vine and Wine and the Aigues-Mortes saltworks. The organisers were assisted by the company Alphavisa, which made it possible to carry out this planetary direct in optimal conditions. Within the organising committee, special thanks go to Valérie Balmès and Raphaëlle Mouttet (ANSES Plant Health Laboratory - EURL for Insects and Mites) for their enormous commitment and energy put in the organisation of the event!   Among the topics covered, the speakers talked about microbiome and its potential effects on species behaviour and invasive potential; phylogeography and space-time distribution dynamics in orchards; cases of invasion, interspecific competition and ecological niche shift; Integrated Pest Management methods, including monitoring methods through drones and electronic traps, and control through sterile male technique, parasitoids, the use of dead-end plant hosts; innovative studies on semiochemistry and olfactory preferences. The Book of abstracts of the meeting is available at the bottom of this page.   To underline the importance of fruit flies at an international level, space was dedicated to the presentation of the FF-IPM project, financed by Horizon 2020, aimed at introducing "in silico" supported prevention, detection and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approaches for both new and emerging fruit flies, based on spatial modelling across a wide range of spatial levels, novel decision support systems, and new knowledge regarding biological traits of the target species, fruit trading and socioeconomics. More information about the project can be found on the FF-IPM webpage   More information about the event can be found on the official 4th TEAM meeting webpage. 

The Kick-off Meeting took place on February 26-27 2020 in Billund-Denmark. Each partner presented his team and the preparation of each activity was discussed.  It was also the opportunity to discuss with EU-Commission and start to work all together in a friendly environment.    

In October 2019, the Commission designated a second Reference Centre dedicated to the welfare of poultry and other small farmed animals (Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1685). This centre aim at improving the enforcement of the EU legislation applicable to those animals, such as laying hens, chickens for meat production and other small farmed animals, including their transport and killing operation.

The First Meeting between the European Reference Centre for the Welfare of Poultry and other small farmed animals and the competent authorities will be organized on September 16th-19th 2020 at the Pullman Mandelieu hotel (Nice, France). This meeting will be the occasion to present the Centre’s objectives, activities and work program and retrieve from every participant their main topic of interest, concerns, needs and questioning regarding the implementation of the legislation regarding welfare of poultry and small farmed animals and about the functioning of the Centre. The work of the Centre is fully dedicated to fulfil the need of the competent authorities in the field of implementation of animal welfare legislation.  

The European Reference Centre for the Welfare of Poultry and other small farmed animals (small farmed animals welfare Centre), which has been launched on February 1st 2020. This Centre is composed by Anses (France, coordinator), Irta (Spain, deputy), Izsler (Italy) and Aarhus University (Denmark). This Centre has been created (like the one about pigs welfare) in the context of the regulation 2017/625 about official controls (art. 95) to support the commission and member states in the applications of legislation regarding poultry and other small farmed animals welfare. The Centre covers farming, transport and slaughter of poultry, rabbits, and fur animals. The Centre will: 1) offer technical and scientific assistance to competent authorities (and their supporting bodies) of all members states, regarding all aspects of welfare legislation implementation; 2) work on establishment and validation of welfare indicators for official controls; 3) perform some specific scientific studies; 4) provide specific training for inspection services; 5) disseminate innovation and knowledge. ​For more details, read work programme 2020.

[relayed from USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service] The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is conducting its biennial review of the select agents and toxins registration list.  The Agricultural Bioterrorism Protection Act of 2002 requires the evaluation every two years of all potential animal or plant select agents based on their effects on health, production and marketability of the animals or plants, their ability to cause disease, and whether countermeasures or treatments are available. As outlined in the 2018 Farm Bill, the agency will also evaluate potential select agents based on whether inclusion on the list would have a substantial negative impact on the research and development of solutions for the animal or plant disease caused by the agent or toxin. Agents on the select agents list and are subject to strong regulations on use and movement in order to protect the American public and agriculture.  APHIS is seeking public feedback on the current list, and whether any updates are appropriate.  Specifically, APHIS would like input on the following select agents, which we are considering removing from the list: Peronosclerospora philippinensis (Peronosclerospora sacchari) African horse sickness virus Bacillus anthracis (Pasteur strain) Brucella abortus, Brucella suis, and Brucella melitensis; and Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus.  In the Federal Register posting, APHIS provides background on each of these select agents and the reason(s) they might be appropriate to remove from the list. To view this information and provide comment, visit http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=APHIS-2019-0018.  After a 60-day public comment period, all feedback will be shared with APHIS’s working groups to consider during the review process. After completing the review, APHIS will either republish the list or propose changes through the rulemaking process.

During last weeks, the EURL team prepared actively a large-scale multicentric comparison of porcine ELISA kits involving 25 participating laboratories and 5 different kits. Shipments have been performed this week, with following key figures: - 1030 mL of porcine sera ; - 3432 aliquots prepared, labeled and sorted before shipment ;  - 4 panels of 20 aliquots per lab. Homogeneity of panels as well as stability conditions will be tested by the EURL team. Work is ongoing !

During the last week of February, the OIE-EU-FAO Reference Laboratory for brucellosis welcomed at ANSES two trainees from the Central Veterinary Laboratory of Conakry (LCVD, Guinea) for one-week training in brucellosis serology and molecular biology. Our administrative (MF. Devaux), technical (M. Ribeiro, F. Petot-Bottin, L. Perrot) and scientific (A. Ferreira-Vicente, L. Freddi; G. Girault, C. Ponsart) team is mobilized for the success of this 2-year twinning project supported by OIE. This training session followed a first mission carried out by C. Ponsart and G. Girault, in January 2020 at LCVD. This kick-off meeting aimed at making an inventory of diagnostic skills, as well as quality and biosafety management systems. Other activities are planned for 2020 in this context (participation to PTs, continued transfer of skills). The exemplary implication of the whole ANSES team for this ongoing project must be underlined. The collaboration with LCVD will give our EURL team the opportunity to better understand other epidemiological contexts, thus strengthening our training experience and skills.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Maecenas porttitor congue massa. Fusce posuere, magna sed pulvinar ultricies, purus lectus malesuada libero, sit amet commodo magna eros quis urna. Nunc viverra imperdiet enim. Fusce est. Vivamus a tellus. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Proin pharetra nonummy pede. Mauris et orci. Aenean nec lorem. In porttitor. Donec laoreet nonummy augue. Suspendisse dui purus, scelerisque at, vulputate vitae, pretium mattis, nunc. Mauris eget neque at sem venenatis eleifend. Ut nonummy.

The first EURL workshop scheduled on the 19th of March 2020 has been postponed to the second half of the year due to the coronavirus. The workshop has been rescheduled on the 20th of October 2020.  In order to assure all participants' safety and avoid any travel risks, the EURL workshop will be celebrated by videoconference.   We hope to see you all behind the screen!