Training and education

Who are the people behind SAFOSO? What inspires them and how do they contribute to solving animal health challenges? Aurélie Castinel shares her story.

SAFOSO is involved in a project that aims to provide policy makers and educators with a deeper understanding of how to use social sciences to design targeted biosecurity promotion campaigns. This project is a collaboration with Institute for Infectious Animal Diseases (IIAD), a member of the Texas A&M University System and Texas A&M AgriLife Research.

In Switzerland, food and consumer products are tested and inspected according to internationally recognized methods to assess risks. To train the cantonal authorities to conduct these tasks, the Swiss Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office offers a further education program. In 2020, this program, including its responsibility, coordination, organization and curriculum, was restructured and aligned with similar training courses for official veterinarians. After three years of implementation of the revised program, the Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (FSVO) mandated SAFOSO to conduct an evaluation to identify any potential areas for further improvement.

SAFOSO is collaborating with Purdue University in a USDA-funded project aiming to develop evidence-based programs to promote preventive measures among small-scale poultry owners. In the scope of this project, surveys to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of relevant poultry sector stakeholders will be conducted. SAFOSO’s main task in the project will be to develop training materials on poultry health and biosecurity for Purdue Extension Educators and backyard poultry owners, based on the abovementioned surveys.

SAFOSO is supporting the World Bank in the implementation of the Trade Facilitation Support Project in the Western Balkans. In particular, the current project is aimed at strengthening food and feed safety and trade by improving border controls. In November, Manon Schuppers travelled to Kosovo to discuss with the Kosovo Food and Veterinary Agency how to support the implementation of risk-based border inspection for food and feed. The discussions held during the mission were based on a survey delivered to the food and veterinary authorities of the Western Balkan region to evaluate the current strengths, challenges and priorities for the design and implementation of risk-based border inspection for animals, food, feed and plants.

Who are the people behind SAFOSO? What inspires them and how do they contribute to solving animal health challenges? Julia Hüttl shares her story.

What does the future of risk-based meat inspection look like and what are the challenges delaying the implementation of a more modern Risk-based approach? This was debated last April, in Brussels, at the closing meeting of RIBIMINS Cost Action. Isabel Lechner and Pedro Moura presented the findings of a pre-event questionnaire capturing participants' views and perspectives on the current main hazards and operational challenges in meat inspection and barriers to the implementation of RB-MSAS.

SAFOSO, on behalf of FAO-Pakistan, assessed the technical feasibility of establishing a FMD-free zone with vaccination in the Bahawalpur Division, Punjab, in accordance with the requirements outlined by WOAH. Marco De Nardi visited Punjab in February-March, where he conducted several field visits and held multiple interviews with veterinary authorities, diagnostic laboratories, livestock owners, and traders.

Who are the people behind SAFOSO? What inspires them and how do they contribute to solving animal health challenges? Jessica Wang shares her story.

SAFOSO AG is supporting this important COST action initiative as consortium member and national coordinator of the activities in Switzerland.

It is difficult to predict what, when and where new health threats will emerge. That’s why the European Commission’s new strategic plan for the control of Foot-and-Mouth Disease (EuFMD) highlights improved early warning systems as a priority area. As part of this strategy, syndromic surveillance (SyS) could be a very valuable tool to complement and integrate ongoing surveillance efforts to improve early detection and early warning for FAST (FMD, Rift Valley Fever, Peste des Petits Ruminants, Capripoxviruses and Lumpy Skin disease) and other transboundary diseases.