Symposium set next week

Newly formed Center for Food Animal Well-being to host symposium on advances, current issues in animal well-being

— The Center for Food Animal Well-being, which is part of the University of Arkansas System's Division of Agriculture, will host its first annual symposium Aug. 18 on advances and current issues in food animal well-being.

The symposium will be held on the University of Arkansas' Fayetteville campus and registration is free.

Speakers for the one-day event will include: Mike Morris, animal welfare manager for YUM brands which represents the retail food outlets Kentucky Fried Chicken, Long John Silvers, A&W Root Beer and Taco Bell; Dorothy McKeegan, senior lecturer with the University of Glasgow's Institute of Biodiversity Animal Health and Comparative Medicine; John McGlone, director of the Pork Industry Institute at Texas Tech University; Elizabeth S. Rumley, staff attorney for the National Agricultural Law Center; and Kay Johnson-Smith, executive vice-president of the Animal Agriculture Alliance.

Yvonne Vizzier Thaxton, Ph.D., director for the Center for Food Animal Wellbeing, said, "I am excited about bringing speakers with international reputations to speak on animal welfare research and related issues of current interest to those of us in animal agriculture."

The goal for the Center for Food Animal Well-being is to improve animal health, animal handling, food safety and productivity by developing and defining objective measurements of well-being, including measures of behavior, stress physiology, neurophysiology, immunology, microbiology and production efficiency.

To register for the symposium, send your name, address and phone number to [email protected] by Aug. 12.

School News, Pages 11 on 08/10/2011