HallMark attends Royal Veterinary College symposium on strengthening disease surveillance
HallMark's Head of Official Controls, Luis Castromil, recently attended a symposium at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) alongside Area Veterinary Manager, Onat Celebi and Official Veterinarian, Paria Moradian, exploring how veterinary disease surveillance at abattoirs can be strengthened and how the information generated can deliver greater value across the livestock sector.
The event brought together representatives from the Royal Veterinary College, the Food Standards Agency (FSA), the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), and veterinary professionals from a range of countries. This diverse mix of expertise provided an excellent opportunity to consider disease surveillance from regulatory, academic, operational and international perspectives.
A key theme throughout the symposium was the importance of closer collaboration between farmers, private veterinary surgeons, abattoirs, Official Veterinarians, government agencies and research institutions. By making better and more timely use of information gathered during meat inspection, the sector has the potential to identify animal health and welfare issues earlier, provide more meaningful feedback to producers and their veterinary advisers, and support more effective disease prevention and control.
The programme also highlighted the value of learning from international experience. Delegates exchanged practical examples of how slaughterhouse data is used in different countries and discussed opportunities to improve the consistency, quality and impact of surveillance information.
HallMark extends its thanks to Dr Enric Vidal, the Food Standards Agency and all of the speakers for their informative and thought-provoking presentations, as well as to the Royal Veterinary College for hosting such a constructive event that encouraged learning, collaboration and professional exchange.
