National conference on animal health and biosecurity on farms
The national conference on raising awareness about animal health and biosecurity was held in Belgrade on October 7th as part of the project “Reinforcement of Animal Health and Welfare”. The conference was attended by representatives of Veterinary Directorate, The Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Serbia, as well as representatives of veterinary services, veterinary inspectors, representatives of veterinary institutes and the Chamber of Commerce of Serbia.
“Transmissible animal diseases have a wide impact on animal health and welfare, public health and food safety. The Veterinary Directorate prepares and implements annual and multi-year programs of measures aimed at strengthening animal health by improving disease prevention and control, especially biosecurity and early detection of diseases in domestic animals. The results of the project significantly contributed to the harmonization and implementation of the national legislation with the legal provisions of the EU in the field of animal health”, said Project coordinator Maja Andrijasevic.
Some of the topics that were discussed were devoted to the new regulations on transmissible animal diseases, the importance of animal disease surveillance and the importance of strategies to control the emergence and spread of diseases. Experts from the project also talked about control measures for African swine fever, as well as preparedness measures in case of disease.
“The food sector in Serbia knows why food safety, animal health and welfare are so important. It also knows how to successfully trade with the EU, which is by far the biggest expert market for Serbian agricultural products”, said the Head of Operation 3 in the Delegation of the EU to the Republic of Serbia, Sakelaris Hourdas. He added that last year Serbia broke the record in export of food to the EU. “The value of Serbia’s export of food to the EU was almost 700 million euro higher than the imports. The European Union was the main export destination for Serbian agriculture products (55%), while the overall value exceeded 2.3 billion euro”, said Hourdas.
Biosecurity measures are a priority in the prevention of animal diseases, and experts from the project also spoke about examples of biosecurity measures aimed at preventing disease from entering farms.
“The project provided technical support to the Veterinary Directorate to improve national animal health standards that contribute to animal health, animal welfare, public health and food safety for sustainable farming, the agri-food industry and the economy. We hope that our works has helped Serbia prepare to fulfil it EU membership obligations in the areas of animal health, animal welfare and food safety”, said Petras Maciulskis, Team Leader of the project.
The project „Reinforcement Animal health and welfare “supports the Veterinary Directorate of the Ministry of the Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management in harmonizing national legislation with the European Union and international standards in the field of animal health and welfare and biosecurity.