Pre-Accession Seminar on Animal Health and Welfare

In the framework of the EFSA Pre-Accession Programme 2009-2010 for Candidate and Potential Candidate Countries, the European Food Safety Authority organised a two-day seminar on Animal Health and Welfare for the representatives from competent institutions and stakeholders groups of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The overall objective of the Pre-Accession Programme is to further enable the beneficiaries to familiarise themselves with the EU policies and working methods particularly focusing on “from field to plate” integrated approach to food safety.

The seminar aimed to present EFSA’s role in contributing to the improvement of animal health in Europe by using practical examples of risk assessment as the basis for the scientific opinions. EFSA's Team Leaders for Animal Diseases and Animal Welfare, together with the AHAW Panel members presented the EFSA work on animal health and welfare and the Pan-European cooperation.

The seminar gave a comprehensive overview of existing EU and national legislation together with some interesting examples of good animal health and welfare practices. It also offered a platform for information and knowledge exchange and triggered an active discussion on how the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia should act in order to live up to the EU requirements in the respective area.