Veterinarians representing the main pork producers, accompanied by Chile’s Agriculture and Livestock Service (SAG), discussed key points relating to this topic.
In late April, the first meeting of the Animal Welfare Technical Committee took place, organized by the Chilean Meat Exporters’ Association, ChileCarne. It brought together representatives from the companies Agrosuper, AASA, Maxagro, Coexca, PIC Andina and Chorombo, as well as SAG, to discuss animal welfare, a topic of great importance to the industry.
At this first quarterly meeting the attendees, who were mainly veterinarians, analyzed the issues that pork production generates and how they can be handled, responding to the animal welfare requirements of both the market and the authorities.
“First we established the statutes to set up the committee. Next, we reviewed the new chapter of the OIE (World Organization for Animal Health) with regard to the new animal welfare requirements. We also looked at the best practice manual that we are working on with SAG. Finally, we assigned pending tasks to SAG, the producers, and ourselves as an Association,” explained María Ignacia Apel, Asprocer’s Animal Health Manager.
This committee is an unprecedented initiative in the industry, in which both the public and private sectors are participating in the search for solutions to problems that arise from pork production with respect to animal welfare.[:]
