HSA International Symposium
16 September 2015
The HSA’s two-day International Symposium, held in Zagreb, Croatia in July, attracted an audience of some 200 delegates from around the world from industry, government and academia.
The opening address, 'Islam and Animal Welfare - A Pathway to More Humane Slaughter Practices' was given by HRH Princess Alia al Hussein of Jordan, who spoke on the issue of religious slaughter and called for improved farm animal welfare during slaughter for the halal market – a topic of considerable current interest.
Over the full two-day programme of eminent key-note speakers and presentations, delegates were given insight into local challenges and learnt about recent research on the humaneness of existing techniques as well as advances in animal welfare during transport, marketing and slaughter. (The programme, speaker biographies and abstracts are available here. )
Charlie Mason, HSA’s Technical Director said: “Growing meat consumption and an increasingly globalised food supply chain add to the need to develop improvements in animal welfare during transport, marketing and slaughter. These challenges, combined with increased consumer concern, are stimulating new developments and the adoption of higher welfare standards in many parts of the world.“
The symposium, organised with the assistance of Dr Mario Ostović of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Zagreb, although international in scope, also built on the work of the European Union-funded AWARE project which promoted integration and aimed to increase the impact of European funded farm animal welfare research.
The HSA extends its grateful thanks to all the speakers and delegates who, through their attendance and participation, made the symposium a success.
For further information or technical advice on ensuring humane slaughter, please click here or you can contact a member of our technical team on 01582 831919.