24012-QS-Report-02-2019_A4_GB_Fleisch.indd

QS-Report: Meat and Meat Products | Issue 2/2019 New indicators for more ani- mal welfare and biosecurity Indices support in the risk assessment for new EU Control Regulation • New indicators for more animal welfare and biosecurity • Antibiotic use in livestock farming in decline • Collection of diagnostic data from beef cattle • QS Science Funds • QS in dialogue with the industry • Short and up to date Content Editorial QS-Report Meat and Meat Products 02/2019 Qualitätssicherung. Vom Landwirt bis zur Ladentheke. The QS inspection system stores large amounts of data - among other things, from the numerous audit re- ports. Since November, QS has made this available to its scheme partici- pants in an even clearer and more ex- tracted form - as valid indicators for their own companies. They provide the farmer with comparative values and an early warning system. At the same time, the livestock owners can use their own values for risk assess- ment towards the veterinary o ces. A bene t in terms of information and transparency through available data from several points of view. In the QS database, every livestock owner has access to the results of the audits that are regularly car- ried out in his/her own farm. How- ever, the overall audit result by itself often does not allow to draw any conclusions regarding the im- plementation of the criteria in the different areas of the company. Therefore, QS has defined special indices. Project Manager Thomas May , who works for QS, explains: “We have extracted and highlighted individual aspects from the various data in the audit reports. Our aim is to provide indicators for each in- dividual company, which will serve the farmer or his veterinarian not only as a comparative figure, but also as an early warning system.” As the focus currently lies on biose- curity and livestock farming, all re- quirements from the QS audit report relating to biosecurity and livestock farming are separately evaluated and summarised. Since November, livestock owners in the QS network are able to view their farm-speci c biosecurity and livestock farming index in the database at any time. ASF AND LIVESTOCK FARMING IN FOCUS African Swine Fever (ASF) is pre- senting important challenges for pig farmers, as a high level of biosecu- rity is important for preventing the introduction of germs into the herd. The biosecurity index can provide some support in this sense: an in- dex value of less than 100 indicates the possible need for action for farm managers. The same applies to live- stock farming. Again, the require- ments should be fully implemented to provide good housing conditions for the pigs. The audit indices on bi- osecurity and livestock farming help to identify even more easily whether and where action is required, as well as to react in good time. NEW EU CONTROL REGULATION INCLUDES RISK CATEGORIES However, the indices developed by QS do not only provide farmers and veterinarians with a more compre- Dear readers, Biosecurity index, livestock farming index, GermanMedic- inal Products Act - the issues covered by QS are extensive and are always aligned with the current agenda of the in- dustry. In this autumn issue of the QS Report we present the new QS indices for biosecurity and livestock farming. How these can be helpful for your risk assessment within the framework of the new EU Control Regulation is explained in our cover story. And what about the use of antibiotics in German stables? The QS Antibiotics Monitoring as well as the Evaluation Report on the German Medicinal Products Act (also known as Arzneimittelgesetz or AMG) con rm a positive trend, and thus a declining use of antibiotics in livestock farming in recent years. Many further topics also await you in this issue. We hope you enjoy reading it! Your QS-Team If you consider that we forgot any important topics related to quality assurance, please let us know! We look forward to your suggestions.