0
The Directorate General for Health and Consumers (DG SANCO) of the European Commission has commissioned the Food Chain Evaluation Consortium (FCEC) to undertake a study of the costs and benefits for pig meat production when implementing alternatives to surgical castration of male pigs in view to estimate the costs and benefits of ending surgical castration of male pigs by 1 January 2018 in the European Union.
The study is aimed at providing EU policymakers with an improved understanding of which of the options – surgical castration or its main two alternatives, raising entire male pigs or vaccinating them against boar taint – is most adequate for pig meat production when weighing the costs against the benefits. This study will analyse the costs and benefits through the whole pig meat chain in the EU, from breeding and raising pigs to the consumption of pig meat. It will also provide an estimation of the costs and benefits of ending surgical castration on different percentages of EU male pigs' population by 1 January 2018.
This questionnaire is targeted at key stakeholders, including national associations of pig breeders, pig producers, slaughterhouses, pig meat processors, retailers, animal welfare associations as well as other organisations, and competent authorities.
Tuesday April 23, 2013/ FVE/ European Union.
http://www.fve.org
