Autor: Elvira Martin

Sheep, goat and beef farmers in Spain and Hungary are well aware of animal welfare. Beyond the fact that the European production system is the most demanding in the world in terms of animal welfare, the sheep and goat farmers of Spain and Hungary and the beef cattle farmers of Spain have wanted to go a step further in their commitment to welfare through their Animal Welfare Commitment Decalogue and the accreditable certification scheme W+, Animal Welfare Commitment.

According to Javier López, general director of Provacuno, the Decalogue Animal Welfare Commitment reflects «the philosophy and commitment that European livestock farmers have to the welfare of our animals. Beyond the ethical issues that we as committed people assume, welfare on our farms is something unquestionable. It is only through genuine animal welfare that we can guarantee profitability. Farmers know it: a well-cared-for animal is healthier and more productive».

This Decalogue was published on the occasion of the start of the promotion plan co-financed with European funds to promote animal welfare European Animal Welfare Commitment that the Hungarian (JTT) and Spanish (INTEROVIC) and Spanish (PROVACUNO) interprofessional sheep and goat meat associations have been carrying out for two years, with the aim of highlighting the value of animal welfare in European livestock production and publicising the accreditable animal welfare certification schemes specifically developed for sheep, goat and beef farms.

W+ Animal Welfare Commitment, a tool at the service of livestock farmers.

This accreditable certification scheme has been developed in collaboration with the Spanish Society for Animal Welfare (SEPROBA) and technicians specialised in both livestock production and quality certification schemes with the aim of developing «an accreditable certification scheme, based on measurable scientific parameters, reproducible over time and technically feasible on a farm, which not only allows us to reliably guarantee the animal welfare that our farmers maintain on their farms, but also provides them with an important tool for continuous improvement that helps them to make their production systems more efficient and can even help them to reduce costs,» explains Tomás Rodríguez, Interovic’s general manager.

In this sense, Dr. Sándor Kukovics, general manager of JTT, points out that «the European production system is already the most demanding in the world in terms of animal welfare, so with this certification scheme what we are doing is going one step further in production by offering farmers who require it, a tool for continuous improvement and a reliable certification scheme thanks to being an accreditable system, where a national accreditation entity such as ENAC, accredits for this purpose the entities that certify the process, which guarantees additional supervision and certification by an independent entity».

In the opinion of these three interprofessionals, W+ Compromiso Bienestar Animal becomes a tool at the service of all those farmers who want to certify the animal welfare they already practise on their farms. Those wishing to become certified under this scheme can find all the information on the website www.bienestaranimaleuropeo.com and at https://www.bienestaranimaleuropeo.com/b/.

The Interprofessional Organization for Beef and Veal in Spain, PROVACUNO, while Interovic and JTT the Interprofessional Organizations for Sheep and Goat Meat in Spain and Hungary have published today the complete video of the Second European Animal Welfare Symposium, held last 20th September in the Sparks space in Brussels with the participation of some twenty expert speakers from all over Europe and more than 500 attendees, in both physical and telematic format.

The meeting, which lasted a full day, was the second edition of the largest event on European animal welfare and forms part of the set of actions planned within the promotion plan co-financed with European funds to promote animal welfare European Animal Welfare Commitment, promoted by Interovic, Provacuno and JTT, with the aim of generating a scientific and technical debate on this subject on the continent.

The event’s aim, organised in several round tables with participants from the main entities and institutions at European level, was to promote advances that lead to maximum animal welfare guarantees. In this sense, during her speech at the closing of the conference, Ms. Joanna Stawowy, member of the cabinet of the European Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski, called for a «political exercise» in the coming years to improve the state of animal welfare in Europe.

Before, during the development of the Second Symposium, in addition to the participation of representatives of the three interprofessional, Interovic, JTT and Provacuno, various experts analysed the current situation of animal welfare in Europe, such as Dr. Estelle Hamelin, from the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), Miguel Ángel Higuera, from the European Platform for Animal Welfare, Carolina Cucurella, from the UECBV, and Inés Ajuda from the Eurogroup For Animals. All of them provided information and opinions on the different initiatives that are contributing to improving welfare worldwide, as well as emphasising how relations between the governments of different countries, interprofessional and legislators, both national and international, can help.

In a second panel discussion, «From science to certification to the table», Andrea Gavinelli, head of the Animal Welfare unit SANTE.G.3, called for breaking down barriers in Europe «to support initiatives such as European Animal Welfare» and, together, «to move forward through dialogue, negotiation, appropriate and effective legislation and learning from each other». Gavinelli was joined on stage by Laura Boyle of the European Federation of Animal Science (EAAP), Paolo Ferrari of the Centro Ricerche Produzioni Animali (CRPA) and Laura Godoy of Bureau Veritas.

The closing panel, «Consumption and Animal Welfare», analysed the relationship between the consumer and animal welfare and the relationship between consumer and animal welfare.

An event created to improve our world and our reality».

For Raúl Muñiz, president of Interovic, the event provided «very important reflections on European animal welfare and how, together, we are going to be able to improve our sector so that at the same time it serves to improve our world, our reality, our society and, of course, the daily lives of our farmers and our production chain, which are our reason for being and what has brought us together here today».

For his part, Javier López, director general of Provacuno, emphasised that «the importance of this European animal welfare promotion program and other programs aimed at the domestic market, allow European consumers to know and value the work that the sectors carry out to meet their requirements, providing them with products of the highest quality through accredited certification, also encouraging cooperation between the member states of the Union».

To access the video in English: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Df4DgiKV90

On 20 September, more than 500 people had the opportunity to attend, both in person and online, the 2nd International Symposium on European Animal Welfare, held in Brussels and consolidated as a unique multidisciplinary forum to promote advances that lead to maximum animal welfare guarantees not only in the European Union but also with the ambition to be a reference worldwide.

Around twenty expert speakers attended to the event from different European countries who had the opportunity to express their different points of view, debate their opinions, and refute the impressions of the other attendees, all of them, contributed to generating conversation around a key issue for the future of livestock farming, such as animal welfare.

This was the case of Andrea Gavinelli, head of the Animal Welfare SANTE.G.3 unit, who wanted to point out that, in recent years and in Europe alone, 50 different labelling systems have been created, «which only generate confusion», which is why he called for unification and for «breaking down barriers in Europe and opening up to dialogue». And he recalled how the EU can contribute knowledge to support initiatives such as European Animal Welfare, which will serve to «open up dialogue and negotiation that will lead us to appropriate and effective legislation», as well as «learning from each other»

Another Italian, Paolo Ferrari of the Centro Ricerche Produzioni Animali (CRPA), called for «creating a system of accreditation and labelling that is well understood. «We want a product that is worth paying more for because it is really going to bring benefits,» he said. He linked the success of the initiative of the interprofessional organisations organising the symposium «to the effort to raise awareness and educate consumers and producers, companies and organisations, to pass on the benefits of a product according to animal welfare rules».

A more emotional approach was called for by Portugal’s Inés Ajuda of Eurogroup for Animals, who called for «listening to consumers, who like to know what they are eating and want to know that we respect animals». She also put herself in the role of the farmer, «their passion, their belief in what they do every day and how to take the necessary measures to be closer to our consumers».

A view shared during the event by Carolina Cucurella, representative of the European Animal Industry and Transport (UECBV): «Farmers have to feel proud of the products they produce and how, in this way, to achieve more satisfied consumers. And that means that the legislation, the authorities, must also know how to value the importance of rural areas and to maintain the social network that livestock farming is capable of keeping alive».

Laura Boyle from Ireland, of the European Federation of Animal Science (EAAP), as well as giving us her vision from the British Isles, reminded those present of the importance of basing animal welfare on a series of solid evidence and data to reinforce the implementation of measures, and of adding indicators such as animal behaviour to find out whether the necessary parameters are being met. In his speech, he also did not hesitate to congratulate the livestock sector «for the clear improvement it is achieving, which will lead to an increase in consumer confidence» and gave as an example the holding of this 2nd International Symposium on European Animal Welfare.

The Symposium was recorded in its entirety and the video is available to all on the official website: https://www.europeananimalwelfare.eu/symposium/

The Spanish interprofessional association representing the beef industry, PROVACUNO, and two interprofessional associations representing the sheep and goat meat industry, JTT in Hungary and INTEROVIC in Spain, organised a symposium in Brussels within the framework of the programme to promote “European Animal Welfare”, co-financed with European funds.

The meeting was attended by international representatives from different institutional, academic, associative and productive sectors, as well as members from different links in the chain.

The organisers were delighted with the success of this event and the turnout it attracted. More than 730 people registered, taking part both online and in person, from more than 25 nationalities represented by official organisations, companies, associations, cooperatives, non-profit organisations, technicians, researchers, and interprofessional associations as well as experts and members of the permanent representations of several Member States of the European Union.

This one-day event featured three round-table discussion panels with experts from the World Organisation of Animal Health (WOAH), the European Animal welfare Platform, the European Federation of Animal Science (EAAP), COPA-COGECA, UECBV, Centro Ricerche Produzioni Animali (CRPA), Bureau Veritas, Textile Exchange, ICF Consulting, ASEDAS, The Liaison Centre for the Meat Processing Industry in the European Union (CLITRAVI), the Spanish Society for Animal Protection and Welfare (SEPROBA) and the SANTE G3: ANIMAL WELFARE Unit.

During these discussions, moderated by the industry journalist Andrea Bertaglio, the experts had the opportunity to share ideas, exchange opinions and join forces to try and reconcile the wishes and aspirations of citizens with the maximum guarantees and reliability that certifications in Animal Welfare can offer.

For Raúl Muñiz, president of Interovic, this Symposium has generated “very important reflections on European animal welfare and how there is still room for improvement, but all this must be accompanied by the commitment and recognition of the consumer through their consumption choices, otherwise, the difficulty of transferring the costs associated with new Animal Welfare requirements  jeopardises the continuity and viability of the sector.”

Javier López, managing director of Provacuno, wanted to highlight the importance of promotion programmes co-financed with European funds, which have become “an essential tool to inform about the reality of a sector committed to animal welfare, environmental sustainability and social and territorial cohesion in Europe.” In addition, López stressed “these European promotion programmes allow us to organise high quality symposiums on a large scale, such as the one held in Brussels, and their continuity is vital for the European meat sector.

For his part, the managing director of JTT, Sandor Kukóvikcs, called for “greater efforts to make European citizens recognise and understand the effort involved in producing the safest, highest quality food products that lead the world in terms of respecting animal welfare”. He also requested that the new rules be “capable of responding to everyone, consumers and producers”, without forgetting the difficulties that this entails for the sector and the effort that it has to make every day.

A European event with a vision of international openness and dialogue. 

The event included three roundtable discussions during which interesting conclusions were reached for the future of animal welfare in the sector, not only in the European Union, but also in terms of their transfer and adaptation to third countries.

During the first discussion, the experts analysed the current animal welfare situation and provided their vision of the efforts being made around the world to contribute to its improvement, arguing the importance of interconnections between countries, interprofessional associations and legislators to promote animal welfare, whilst highlighting the need for the consumer to value the effort and passion contributed every day by farmers as well.

During the second discussion, which tackled the importance of accredited certification and the need to reconcile and interconnect science and production to an even greater degree, the head of the Animal Welfare unit SANTE.G.3, Andrea Gavinelli, made a commitment to dialogue and to the need to harmonise in order to achieve appropriate and effective legislation that reconciles the views of the different parties involved.

The third and final roundtable discussion of the day concluded by analysing the relationship between the consumer, animal welfare and production, and how accredited certifications can reconcile all interested parties and do so globally, as is the case with the Textile Exchange certification, which opened this last debate at the Symposium.

“Labelling is a solution” for the consumer.

The day’s proceedings were brought to a close by Ms. Joanna Stawowy, cabinet member of the European commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski, who advocated a “political exercise” in the coming years to improve the current state of the sector and promote such events. “We have an opportunity for dialogue between all parties,” she concluded. 

The organisers of the Symposium stated that in the coming days a recording of the day will be made available on the event page. For more information, go to http://www.bienestaranimaleuropeo.com/simposio

The Spanish interprofessional association for the beef industry, PROVACUNO, and two interprofessional associations representing the sheep and goat meat industry, JTT in Hungary and INTEROVIC in Spain, have announced today the programme for the II European Animal Welfare Symposium, which will take place at Sparks Meeting in Brussels on 20 September, from 9am to 4pm. The meeting, with free registration, will also be streamed, with simultaneous translation.

This extensive event features participants from leading organisations and institutions to achieve advances that lead to the maximum guarantees in animal welfare.

From 9.30 am onwards, after the institutional welcome, there will be three roundtable discussions after each of which members of the audience, attending in person and online, will be able to ask the speakers questions and discuss the issues raised.

The first roundtable discussion is entitled “Analysing the Animal Welfare Situation” and features Dr Estelle Hamelin, from the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), Miguel Ángel Higuera, from the European Platform for Animal Welfare, Carolina Cucurella, from UECBV, and Inés Ajuda from the Eurogroup For Animals, who will talk about the current situation in Europe with regard to animal welfare.

During the second roundtable discussion, entitled “From science to the table by way of certification”, Andrea Gavinelli, from Animal Welfare SANTE.G.3m, Paolo Ferrari, from the Centro Ricerche Produzioni Animal (CRPA), Laura Boyle, from the European Federation of Animal Science (EAAP), and Laura Godoy, from Bureau Veritas, will be discussing different ways to guarantee livestock welfare including accredited certification.

Finally, in the third roundtable discussion, Claudio Sala, from Textile Exchange, Mar Maestre from ICF CONSULTING, Felipe Medina, from the Spanish Association of Distributors, Self-Services and Supermarkets (ASEDAS), and Luis Fernando Gosálvez, from SEPROBA, will analyse the relationship between the consumer and animal welfare: what animal welfare brings to the consumer and how the consumer can contribute to the promotion of animal welfare.

The day’s proceedings will be brought to a close by Ms. Joanna Stawowy, cabinet member of the European commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski.

Find out more at https://www.europeananimalwelfare.eu/symposium/

If Madrid hosted the 1st International Technical Symposium on European Animal Welfare in November 2022, marking a milestone in the history of the sector at European level, Brussels will be the host city for the 2nd Symposium on 20 September. A unique meeting that will serve to learn about the main advances in the welfare of our livestock farms.

Why will the 2nd European Animal Welfare Symposium be held in Brussels?

Because the organisers of the event, the Spanish beef interprofessional, PROVACUNO, and the Hungarian and Spanish sheep meat interprofessionals, JTT and INTEROVIC, have decided to hold the event in one of the major European capitals, the headquarters of numerous EU bodies, in order to send out the message that they are committed to the welfare of their livestock farms.

As in the first edition, the event will last one day and, during it, the great connoisseurs and experts on welfare at European level, such as scientists, technicians, producers, certifiers, livestock farmers and different stakeholders in the production chain, will be able to exchange knowledge and impressions on the latest trends on a growing and necessary subject, both in the sector and in society in general.

What is the aim of the Symposium?

Above all, the event aims to give visibility to the various developments that are taking place throughout Europe, with improvements of all kinds, and also to address the new European legislation, which is expected to be approved in the remainder of the year.

The event will also serve to launch at European level the new B+ European Animal Welfare Commitment seal, an accredited seal that guarantees that the final product, the meat that reaches the consumer, is fully guaranteed to meet unique quality and animal welfare parameters.

Who will be attending the Symposium?

Representatives from some of the main international organisations have already been confirmed for the event, such as the Spanish Society for the Protection of Animals (SEPROBA), which will be the scientific director of the event, as well as DG SANTE, COPA-COGECA, EFSA, UECBV, Eurogroup For Animals, European Federation of Animal Science (EAAP), ICF CONSULTING and Textile Exchange, which guarantees the success of the event.

The venue will be the Sparks Meeting in Brussels, although it will be available online and simultaneous translation will be provided for attendees.

More information at www.bienestaranimaleuropeo.com/simposio

The Spanish Society for the Protection and Welfare of Animals, SEPROBA, has made public the results of an opinion survey carried out among agents in the ruminant meat production sector, in which Spanish consumers show a high level of interest in everything related to animal welfare in the livestock meat production sector. 

This study, carried out by SEPROBA on a total of more than 256 technicians of the sector (67% male), was already advanced last November during the celebration of the I Symposium on Animal Welfare, organised by the beef interprofessional, PROVACUNO, and the interprofessional of sheep meat in Hungary, JTT, and in Spain, INTEROVIC, within the European Animal Welfare programme, co-financed by funds from the European Commission.

The information collected aims to define the position of livestock sector agents regarding the quality of life with which animals are reared on the farms, as well as to find out what resources are used to keep the consumer informed. The survey, made up of 12 questions, gathers different opinions on the importance of guaranteeing animal welfare to farm animals, taking into account factors such as the facilities used, the messages that are being transmitted to society or the importance of practising this type of animal care for animal health. 

The importance of animal welfare gets the highest rating in the survey
The results show that the importance of animal welfare and the relationship that this practice has with improving the health of ruminants is highly valued. The conclusion drawn from the survey is that animal welfare is of great social interest and the demand for animal welfare is prioritised for farming rather than philosophical reasons, as stated by people involved in the sector. 

The study also reveals that people outside the sector show a high level of interest in the guarantees offered by accreditation, estimating the benefits of a seal accredited in Spain by ENAC, the National Accreditation Entity in Spain.

In this sense, both SEPROBA and PROVACUNO and INTEROVIC agree on the need to improve the knowledge of the livestock reality that people outside the sector have, so that they can better assess the impact of the proposals in animal welfare on issues of management, productivity, health, trade and the guarantees of the offer in the purchasing decision.

After the celebration of the I Symposium in November 2022, the organisation is already preparing the II European Animal Welfare Symposium, which will be announced in the near future.
For more information, please click here https://seproba.es/encuesta-de-opinion-sobre-bienestar-en-rumiantes/