We look forward to welcoming a new member to the EURCAW family! On 17 January the fourth European Union Reference Centre for Animal Welfare was designated – this new EURCAW will focus on aquatic species.   EURCAW Aquatic Animals will be led by the University of Crete in Greece, in partnership with the Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Parasitology in Czechia and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in Spain.   The designation was published on 19 January in the ‘COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION 2024/266 of 17 January 2024 designating a European Union reference centre for the welfare of aquatic animals in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2017/625 of the European Parliament and of the Council’.   The new EURCAW will officially start work on 1 February 2024 and the designation will be reviewed every 7 years from the date of application of the Decision.   The implementing decision is available at: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=OJ:L_202400266&qid=1705652151941 The press release from the European Commission, issued on 15 January 2024: https://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/sante/items/814529/en    

A specific #dashboard developped by European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to give access to updated and complete #brucellosis data in #Europe, including #prevalence data in different species. To be kept informed of brucellosis #eradication progress on an ongoing basis !  Brucella dashboard | EFSA (europa.eu)

  Dear Colleagues, The year 2023 has been full of challenges, thank you for everything you have brought and for your constant implictaion in our collaboartive projects. We hope you will have restfull and joyful end of year celebrations. Best wishes and see you soon in 2024! 

EFSA (European Food Safety Authority), 2023. Story map on Brucella, available online:  https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/8f560383d90b47e8a6f2223384a09c5f

European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has jointly published a Rapid Outbreak Assessment on a persistant ST155 Listeria monocytogenes strain in ready-to-eat fish products likely the cause of 64 infections and 10 deaths in EU/EEA and UK since 2016. ⇒ EFSA news: link

The third Reflection Board meeting between representatives of the Reflection Board (RB) organizations (from the EU Platform on Animal Welfare) and the EURCAW-Poultry-SFA, was held remotely via Teams on December, 12th 2023 afternoon. In total 14 participants, six of them from seven EU platform entities forming the RB, and seven from the EURCAW-Poultry-SFA were connected. One representative from DG SANTE attended as an observer.   This meeting was the occasion to present the Centre’s activities since the last meeting, discuss future possible work topics, and identify possible future collaboration and interests.   The presentations is available  here. The topics discussed can be found in the meeting report here.   

The fourth EU-network meeting between representatives of EU MS Competent Authorities (CAs) and the EURCAW-Poultry-SFA, took place virtually on October 24-25, 2023 on 2 *0,5 days. In total 59 participants, from 22 EU MSs participated, including 39 delegates from CAs, 13 from EURCAW-Poultry-SFA, and 7 observers: two DG SANTE unit G5 representatives, three EFSA representatives, and two EFTA representatives.    This meeting was the occasion to present the Centre’s work performed since the last meeting in 2022. Furthermore, it permitted participants to discuss potential future priority areas of work, identify possible collaboration at the national level, and identify the main needs and expectations of CAs.    The presentations are available here. The report will be available here.    

The FMDV  ihas recently been identified in Tunisia. The FMD symptoms were observed in cattle recently introduced into the farm. For more information: https://wahis.woah.org/#/in-event/5379/dashboard

The FMDV has been identified in Algeria. The FMD symptoms were observed in cattle. For more information: https://wahis.woah.org/#/in-event/5391/dashboard The links below provide further information on the identification of the strain. FAO : https://www.fao.org/3/cc9710en/cc9710en.pdf WRL : https://www.wrlfmd.org/sites/world/files/quick_media/WRLFMD-2024-000002-ALG-GTR-O-SAT2_001.pdf  

Organized by EURCAW-Poultry-SFA. The webinar was held via Teams. Target audience: Official inspectors from the Competent Authorities of the EU MSs Attendance through invitation only.     The PDF of the presentation is available here. The webinar recording is available here.    Description: Directive 98/58/EC concerning the protection of animals kept for farming purposes requires that Member States ensure that animals are kept under conditions respecting their physiological and ethological needs. Several indicators could be used to assess the welfare of rabbits on farms and will be presented during this webinar. The webinar aimed to review the most valid and feasible indicators and their methods of assessment, with a focus on Animal Based Indicators.    The webinar was attended by 81 people (111 registered), from 15 EU Member States: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, The Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.   Schedule: 10:00-10:15: General presentation of the Centre - A. Velarde 10:15-11:00: Welfare indicators – A. Lavazza, X. Moles, C. Tolini 11:00-12:00: Question and discussion   This webinar has been organized within the sub-activity 4.2: Develop course material for specific topics, of the working program 2023-2024.