Scientific Panel on Animal Health and Welfare Minutes of the 74 th plenary meeting Held on , Parma (Agreed on )

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1 AHAW UNIT Scientific Panel on Animal Health and Welfare Minutes of the 74 th plenary meeting Held on , Parma (Agreed on ) Participants Panel Members: Edith Authié, Charlotte Berg, Klaus Depner, Mariano Domingo, Sandra Edwards, Aline de Koeijer, Frank Koenen, Simon More, Mohan Raj, Liisa Sihvonen, Hans Spoolder, Jan Arend Stegeman, Ivar Vågsholm, Antonio Velarde, Preben Willeberg (tele-conference) and Stéphan Zientara European Commission: Marina Marini (DG SANCO, Unit 03) EFSA: AHAW Unit: Ana Afonso, Franck Berthe, Denise Candiani, Sofie Dhollander, Chiara Fabris, Maria Ferrara, Per Have, Karen Mackay and Frank Verdonck SAS Unit: Gabriele Zancarano, Jose Cortinas Abrahantes 1. Welcome and apologies for absence The Chair of the Panel, welcomed the participants. Apologies were received from Anette Bøtner, Howard Browman, Christine Fourichon, Hans- Hermann Thulke, and Ilaria Capua. 2. Adoption of agenda The agenda was adopted without changes. 3. Declarations of interest In accordance with EFSA s Policy on Independence and Scientific Decision-Making Processes 1 and the Decision of the Executive Director implementing this Policy regarding Declarations of Interests 2, EFSA screened the Annual Declaration of interest (ADoI) and the Specific Declaration of interest (SDoI) filled in by the experts invited for the present meeting. For further details on the outcome of the screening of the SDoI, as well as the Oral Declaration of Interest at the beginning of the meeting, please refer to Annex I Page 1 of 6 European Food Safety Authority Via Carlo Magno 1/a, Parma, ITALY Tel: (+39) Fax: (+39)

2 4. Agreement of the minutes of the 73 rd Plenary meeting held on The minutes were agreed by written procedure on and published on the EFSA website on New mandates 5.1. Stunning of poultry by low atmospheric pressure (LAPs) This request is similar to the two previous ones for Scientific Opinions concerning electrical parameters for the stunning of lambs and the use of carbon dioxide for stunning of rabbits, received in February The common background is Council Regulation 1099/2009 on the protection of animals at the time of killing. The Annex provides a positive list of the stunning methods allowed and their related specifications. The Regulation also includes provisions according to which the Annex can be amended to take into account of scientific and technical progress, on the basis of EFSA Scientific Opinion. Currently, the Regulation does not allow the use of low atmosphere pressure system for stunning of poultry. EFSA is requested to assess four scientific publications received by the Commission to support the inclusion of this method in the EU Regulation. The deadline is December Howard Browman was nominated as chair of the working group to be formed. The methodological approach to address the mandates on lambs and rabbits had been discussed in detail with the Commission at the February AHAW Panel meeting. The AHAW Panel proposed to address the LAPs mandate with the same approach that will be further discussed at the May plenary Bovine tuberculosis A request for a scientific opinion on bovine tuberculosis vaccination will be addressed to EFSA in coming days. The mandate was not yet signed but Marina Marini shared the terms of reference with the Panel. The questions relate with the design of field trial to fill the knowledge gaps related to the use of vaccination of cattle against tuberculosis. The Panel expressed some concerns regarding the terms of reference and the need for additional clarifications concerning the scope and objectives of the mandate. The Panel also expressed the need for btb to be addressed in a holistic approach and called for such an approach to be used. It was agreed that a meeting with Commission officials and the AHAW unit and Panel chair will be organised and the mandate discussed at the next plenary meeting. 6. Scientific outputs submitted for discussion and possible adoption/ endorsement 6.1. Risk of introduction and spread of Rift Valley Fever in the EU neighbouring countries of the Mediterranean region (EFSA-Q ) The terms of references of the request from the Commission were to: 1. provide an update on the global occurrence of Rift Valley Fever and possible changes in the distribution during the last 10 years; 2. provide maps of the region of concern and other countries of the Mediterranean Basin (including EU Member States), displaying the geographical distribution of potential invertebrate hosts, taking into account their vector competence and seasonal variation in abundance; 3. assess the risk of introduction of RVF into the region of concern especially through the movements of live animals and vectors; and 4. assess the risk of RVF becoming endemic, with clinical outbreaks or not, in animal and vector populations in the concerned region. The final draft opinion was presented by the Chair of the working group. The opinion was adopted on the 26 th of March. Page 2 of 7

3 6.2. Public health hazards to be covered for animal health and welfare by meat inspection in bovines (EFSA-Q ), small ruminants (EFSA-Q ), solipeds (EFSA-Q ) and farmed game (EFSA-Q ) The Commission requested a scientific opinion and technical assistance on the public health hazards to be covered by inspection of meat. The scope of this mandate is to evaluate meat inspection in a public health context. The opinions on swine and poultry have been previously adopted and published in 2011 and 2012, respectively. The four remaining opinions concerned bovine animals over six weeks old, bovine animals under six weeks old, domestic sheep and goats, farmed game and domestic solipeds. The four draft opinions were presented for possible endorsement. The comments received from the panel members and the conclusions and recommendations were discussed thoroughly. The draft opinions were subsequently amended. The four documents were endorsed by the AHAW Panel on 25 th (Bovine) & 26 th (Small Ruminants, Solipeds and Farmed game) March. The final opinions will be submitted for adoption by the BIOHAZ Panel in June Progress report on other scientific outputs 7.1. Monitoring procedures at slaughterhouses (EFSA-Q ) On the mandate on monitoring procedures at slaughterhouses, the conceptual model is an assessment based on sensitivity and specificity of indicators for unconsciousness and death. A plan of action, including systematic literature review, data collection, and possible public consultation was presented and discussed. Specifically, an online survey to assess the use of the indicators and to get information, possibly, about their specificity and sensitivity is soon going to be launched. Since the outcomes of most of the mentioned activities will only be delivered in the end of June, it was agreed to discuss draft versions of the four opinions in the plenary meeting of June. The opinions will then be circulated for written endorsement by the Panel in the beginning of July before they go out on public consultation Possible risks posed by the influenza A (H3N2v) virus for animal health and its potential spread and implications for animal and human health The terms of reference are: 1) the significance for the health of pigs of the occurrence of influenza A (H3N2v) virus in a naïve population; 2) the current situation in the EU as regards the risk of a possible introduction of influenza A (H3N2v) virus in particular to EU pig herds and the diagnostic capabilities to early detect an incursion; 3) the implications and consequences of the possible evolution of the influenza A (H3N2v) virus on pig health such as clinical manifestation, transmission between pigs and specially the risk that animals from a herd which was infected with influenza A (H3N2v) virus spreads the virus after the last clinical signs of disease have been observed; 4) the possibility, efficacy and efficiency of vaccination in pigs, using the existing vaccines or newly developed vaccines against influenza A (H3N2v) virus, also in relation with the possible evolution of variants of influenza viruses posing a risk to public and animal health; 5) which are the most important factors to be monitored that would suggest a risk for the emergence of a new pandemic influenza strain from the influenza A (H3N2v) virus. A working group has been launched with experts from ECDC, EMA, FLURISK, FLUPIG, ESNIP3, EURL for Influenza. CDC and USDA have been asked to provide support. The approach proposed by the WG for the reply to the different ToRs has been explained to the Panel. For ToR1, an assessment of the overall significance of the H3N2v virus for the health of a naïve pig population (morbidity, mortality, transmission), comparing to other swine Page 3 of 7

4 diseases in pig populations including SIV, will be described. For ToR2, an assessment of the risk of introduction of this influenza virus strain in EU with all possible pathways is going to be included. For ToR3, a description of the clinical manifestations and transmission of the virus between pigs (in herds and between herds), taking also into consideration the possible evolution of the infection in the pig population (transmission, pig health), based on the consequences assessment part of the risk of introduction assessment, is going to be developed. For ToR4, the vaccines currently available or under research, taking into consideration the influence at the human/animal interface and the cross protection are going to be described. Finally, for ToR5, the most important risk factors to be monitored are going to be compiled from previous work developed for FLURISK as well from equivalent work developed by ECDC and CDC (IRAT evaluations) Request for an opinion on electrical stunning of lambs A mandate was received in relation to Council Regulation (EC) No 1099/2009 on the protection of animals at the time of killing. The Spanish authorities and the Catalan meat federation (FECIC) have requested the Commission to amend Annex I to Regulation 1099/2009 as regards the minimum current for animals of ovine/ caprine species for respectively head-only and head-to-body electrical stunning. It was agreed with the Commission that EFSA will give its view on the findings of the two studies submitted by the Spanish authorities with a focus on: the extent to which minimum currents lower than 1 A provide a level of animal welfare at least equivalent to that ensured by the use of a minimum current of 1 A the type of study and data needed to supply scientific evidence that a given electrical stunning protocol of small ruminants provides a level of animal welfare at least equivalent to that ensured by the use of a minimum current of 1 A A full welfare assessment of the use of electrical stunning for rabbits during pre-stunning and stunning phases of the slaughter process is beyond the scope of this mandate since the TORs are restricted to the assessment of the submitted studies. The approach was presented and agreed upon. Briefly, the submitted study documents will be assessed on reporting quality, fulfilment of eligibility criteria and study quality. In all cases, the criteria are first defined and then used as the basis for the assessment. The eligibility criteria are derived from the legislation and focus on the intervention and on the outcome: For the intervention: The key parameters described in the legislation and provided by stunning experts. For the outcome: A. Immediate onset of unconsciousness and insensibility OR B. Absence of pain until the loss of consciousness and sensibility AND C. Duration of the unconsciousness and insensibility (until death) Individual animal-based measures to identify pain are subjective, have a low specificity and/or have a low sensitivity. Therefore, a first requisite for presence of pain before the onset of unconsciousness/insensibility is that independent animal-based measures from at least 2 different response levels (e.g. behaviour and physiological response) have to be significantly different between stunned and non-stunned animals. A second requisite to be fulfilled before a stunning method is considered to cause pain before the onset of unconsciousness/insensibility is that the two or more independent animal-based measures from different response levels that suggest the presence of pain show a correlation at the individual animal level. Page 4 of 7

5 7.4. Request for an opinion on stunning of rabbits The Commission has received a request from the Spanish authorities to allow the use of carbon dioxide as a method for stunning rabbits. It was agreed with the Commission that EFSA will assess whether: the design of the submitted study and the conclusions drawn are scientifically sound the extent to which the use of CO 2 is an acceptable alternative for the stunning of rabbits based on the submitted study A full welfare assessment of the use of high concentrations of CO 2 as stunning method for rabbits during pre-stunning and stunning phases of the slaughter process is beyond the scope of this mandate since the TORs are restricted to the assessment of the submitted study. The same approach as for electrical stunning of lambs will be followed in this opinion (see section above). The approach was presented and, discussed and agreed upon. 8. Feedback from EFSA 8.1. Schmallenberg virus Since the original reports of a previously unknown virus, "Schmallenberg" virus (SBV), in ruminants (cattle, sheep and goats) from Germany and The Netherlands in autumn 2011, the European Commission requested scientific assistance from EFSA. A first report was published in February and provided likely epidemiological scenarios at the time and data needed to improve the understanding of the disease spread and impact of SBV. EFSA in collaboration with the Member States organized a data collection that made possible the publication of regular updates on the development of the outbreak (technical report in March 4 and April ) and a overall assessment of the impact of SBV on animal health, animal production and animal welfare together with a characterisation of the pathogen (31 May ) The European Commission requested for EFSA to continue to collect data and provide updates of the epidemiological situation of SBV in the EU. The last EFSA report of November gives an overview of the situation after 1 year (reporting period from 1 August 2011 till 31 July 2012) and an update of newly affected herds. A new update of the epidemiological situation based on reported data is due mid-may Although outbreaks have been reported from the large majority of EU MS, the disease is not notifiable in most MS and limited resources are available for surveillance / investigation activities. The underreporting maybe estimated as significant. The data available to EFSA only allows an assessment of the impact based upon the comparison between SBV confirmed herds and the total number of herds in each affected region by species. For all affected countries, the number of SBV confirmed herds is low compared with the total number of herds. The maximum proportion of confirmed sheep herds per region is 6.6% and 4% for cattle herds. Nevertheless, these comparisons should be interpreted cautiously since under reporting or lack of confirmation may affect the ratio. No information is available to assess within herd impact. EFSA is currently working on a new Page 5 of 7

6 assessment of the impact of SBV. The report is due December 2013 and should take into account the outcomes of ongoing EU- MS funded research. EFSA informed the Panel that it is considered to have a scientific meeting after summer to discuss the lessons learned from SBV in Europe and improve preparedness for emerging vector borne diseases. 9. Next meetings Next meeting in 2013: May 21/22, June 25/26, September 18/19, October 22/23, and November 26/27. Dates for plenary meetings in 2014 will be proposed for discussion at the next plenary meeting. Page 6 of 7

7 Annex I Interests and actions resulting from the screening of Specific Declaration of Interests (SDoI) 9 a) CONFLICT OF INTEREST: In the SDoI filled for the present meeting DR. A. VELARDE declared the following interest: Co-author of the report on stunning of lambs. In accordance with EFSA s Policy on Independence and Scientific Decision-Making Processes and the Decision of the Executive Director implementing this Policy regarding Declarations of Interests, and taking into account the specific matters discussed at the meeting in question, the interest above was deemed to represent a conflict of Interest. This result in the impossibility for the expert to be present when that item (Request for an opinion on electrical stunning of lambs) is discussed, voted on or in anyway processed by that concerned scientific group. 9 The Annual Declarations of Interests have been screened and approved before inviting the experts to the meeting, in accordance with the Decision of the Executive Director implementing the Policy on Independence regarding Declarations of Interests. Page 7 of 7