The 2nd National Congress on the Supply Chains of game meats will be held online on the ZOOM platform in the days of 8, 15 and 22 June 2021. The Congress is organized thanks to the collaboration between Italian Society of Ecopathology of Fauna (SIEF) e Italian Association of Veterinary Hygienists (AIVI) and with the support of the Association for the Development of Culture, University Studies and Research in Verbano Cusio Ossola (ARS.UNI.VCO) and the Onlus Man-Nature-Environment Foundation (Fondazione UNA). Congress is accredited for delivering ECM for veterinarians, doctors, biologists, food technologists and prevention technicians.
Motivations and Objectives of the Congress
The growth of populations of wild ungulates on the national territory entails serious problems linked to the impacts on anthropic activities. The wildlife-hunting management and the control activities aimed at the containment of these species have often proved insufficient to manage the problems. Different sensitivities offer contrasting points of view with respect to the need for hunting and the need to reduce the consumption of meat in general. A common point and a medium-long term objective of environmental policies is aimed at the need to reduce the consumption of meat from intensively farmed animals, increase animal welfare and reduce the environmental impact of the supply chain. In this sense, game meat can be the connecting element between these visions because derive from animals born and lived free and raised without being introduced into the food chain of additional inputs than natural ones. However, it is increasingly urgent to arrive at the definition of regulations that effectively regulate the operation and management of a controlled and certified supply chain for wild game meat, in compliance with traceability, the hygienic-sanitary quality of the product and animal welfare.
Through the participation of national and international experts, with expertise in various sectors, the Congress has the following objectives:
• provide useful tools to improve and define the quality and traceability of the hunted product within a local supply chain
• describe the management methods of a supply chain applied to game control plans, in compliance with regulations and animal welfare
• discuss with other European countries in order to understand the methods of application and interpretation of the Hygiene Package, evaluating its effective management implications
Structure of the Congress
Tuesday 8 June 2021, from 14.00 pm to 19.00 pm - 1st Session
Game meat: food safety and human health
The session deals with the aspects related to the hygiene and quality of game meat, starting from the methods of killing up to the management of the carcasses along the evisceration and transport to the cell phases within controlled supply chains. The wholesomeness of meat will also be analyzed from the point of view of environmental contaminants and the risk assessment of emerging pathogens. A round table with the Ministry of Health and regional experts will follow on the topic of food safety.
Tuesday 15 June 2021, from 14.00 pm to 19.00 pm - 2st Session
The management of the game supply chains in the containment plans
The demographic explosion of wildlife has led to the need to apply control measures on the national territory in order to reduce the impacts with human activities. The management measures are divided between those implemented in areas subject to hunting activities and regulated by LN 157/92 and those carried out within the protected areas subject to LN 394/91. However, wildlife control does not yet take into account how to use the game meat resource adequately and in compliance with the national and Community regulations in force. For this reason, the critical issues and appropriate solutions to be implemented in order to have shared indications on the management of fauna and the development of dedicated and local game meat chains will be brought to light during the session.
Tuesday 22 June 2021, from 14.00 pm to 19.00 pm - 3rd Session
“Safe Game Meat” - International experiences compared
Italy, despite the large presence of wildlife, imports large quantities of game meat from abroad. In this international session, several European experts were invited to describe the ways in which game meat is managed in their countries, with particular attention to the application and interpretation of EU regulations on the subject of local products, training of operators (hunters, butchers, restaurateurs) and the actual socio-economic effects on the territory.