Offering more room, reducing most temperatures, and holding journey occasions to a minimal are all wanted to enhance the welfare of farmed animals throughout transport, in line with suggestions revealed at the moment by EFSA.
The recommendation by EFSA is offered to the European Fee in a collection of 5 scientific opinions meant to assist its ongoing assessment of animal welfare laws within the European Union (EU) – a key component of the EU’s Farm to Fork (F2F) Technique.
The scientific opinions cowl small ruminants (sheep and goats), equids (horses and donkeys), bovines (cattle and calves), pigs, and animals transported in containers, together with home birds (chickens, laying hens, turkeys and many others.) and rabbits. They determine the assorted welfare penalties that animals might expertise throughout totally different phases of transportation, the hazards doubtlessly inflicting them, and the animal-based measures (ABMs) by which they are often assessed. For all species, being match for transport is of the utmost significance.
“Good animal welfare practices not solely scale back pointless struggling but additionally assist to make animals more healthy. This can be a key component for the security of the meals chain contemplating the shut hyperlinks between animal welfare, animal well being and food-borne illnesses, consistent with the One Well being precept that EFSA is dedicated to”, mentioned Guilhem de Seze, EFSA’s Head of Division for Threat Evaluation Manufacturing.
EFSA has developed quantitative thresholds for the temperatures that must be maintained in a automobile in addition to minimal house allowances for the animals. EFSA additionally describes the event or development of assorted different welfare penalties over time throughout transport, akin to starvation, thirst, and fatigue.
For instance, for animals transported in containers (poultry and rabbits), EFSA recommends that the journey period must be thought-about as the entire time the animals are stored within the containers. The one strategy to keep away from welfare penalties in day-old chicks is to move fertilised eggs and hatch them on the farm of vacation spot.
The present EU laws on the safety of animals throughout transport entered into power in 2005. Throughout the framework of the F2F technique, EFSA’s findings will assist the European Fee’s ongoing assessment of laws with the goal to align it with the most recent scientific proof, broaden its scope, make it simpler to implement and in the end guarantee the next degree of animal welfare. The Fee’s proposal is predicted within the second half of 2023.
Supply: EFSA
