General Directorate for Animal Health and Veterinary Medicines

General Directorate for Animal Health and Veterinary Medicines Italian Action Plan to improve controls on the prevention of tail biting and avoidance of tail docking Domenico Castelluccio Animal welfare office Ministry of Health, Rome, Italy

Pig production background Number of animals (eurostat, 2017) 1. Spain 2. Germany 3. France 4. Denmark 5. The Netherlands 6. Poland 7. Italy

Italian Gastronomic Culture Over many centuries, Italy has developed and perfected many seasoning techniques that have been consolidated by legislation with schemes of geographical indications and traditional specialties: • Protected designation of origin (PDO) • Protected geographical indication (PGI) • Traditional specialities guaranteed (TSG)

Italian pig farming peculiarities • Pigs are reared on fattening farms until 160 -180 kg of live weight for 7 -8 -9 months • This is necessary because Italy is a leading producer of processed pig meat that has to have a certain percentage of fat within it in order to be seasoned • The percentage of fat is also necessary for final meat tenderness and product flavour and aroma

Information to the producers It was pointed out that the negative effects of a nonalignment of the farming sector to the expectations of the consumer, with regards to animal welfare, could have an impact on the marketing of processed products nationwide and abroad which do represent a segment of Italian excellence.

Ministry of Health Expert group • National reference centre for animal welfare (Istituto zooprofilattico sperimentale della Lombardia e dell’Emilia Romagna) • Italian association of pig breeders (ANAS) • Official veterinarians form the local health units of Lombardia ATS Brescia, ATS Val Padana • Research centre for animal production (CRPA) • CIWF • Rappresentative from a major pig producing group • Researchers from the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie • Regional authorities from Lombardia, Emilia Romagna, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Veneto • University of Milan Informed the pig producer associations, the fresh meat and processed meat producers, the farm veterinarian associations, the farmer organizations and the Ministry of agriculture and asked for comments and feedback. 19 febbraio 2021 6

Three year objective June 2018 -2019 Action plan for the implementati on of Directive 2008/120/CE Vetinfo – Classyfarm system: classification of farms based on tail biting risk and more Specific indications for official veterinary inspections. Introduction of small groups of pigs with intact tails. 19 febbraio 2021 2019 From 2019 all farms must put in place appropriate corrective measures and have reached an «improved» level of compliance in accordance to the manual and technical check lists of the Action plan. 2020 Data collection on the prevalence of tail biting and percentages of pigs that have tails docked. 07

The Action Plan Italian Action Plan veterinarians responsible for carrying out official controls They must ensure that risk analysis has been done 19 febbraio 2021 for the Italian pig farms must carry out risk analysis within 2018 8

The Action Plan 19 febbraio 2021 Insufficient Improved Optimal 9

Technical manual Risk evaluation for the purpose of preventing tail docking Three main Farm management areas have been addressed Farm premises and facilities Animal based measures 19 febbraio 2021 10

Training courses National training courses with on farm next day training Official veterinarians Regional authorities Farm veterinarians CASCADE Official veterinarians Farmers 19 febbraio 2021 11

Classyfarm-vetinfo pig tails main farm dashboard 19 febbraio 2021 12

Classyfarm- vetinfo dashboards 19 febbraio 2021 13

Critical aspects of implementation It has posed a challenge to us because of certain consolidated opinions of the farming sector. They are convinced that: • Italian pig farms have a very good level of animal welfare and also in line with other EU countries. • tail docking is unavoidable because pigs are grown up to 160 -170 kg of live weight and reared for a long time on farms in farms for 7 -8 -9 months. • The use of straw is problematic because of the slurry system and even tiny bits of pieces could end up compromising it. • Reproduction farms have expressed concern on the difficulty that piglets with intact tails do have low demand they would face difficulty in selling the animals. • The veterinary declarations in the past have not been circumstantiated and the corrective measures were not mentioned and what was written was not in accordance with the principle of FVE certification or in line with the Italian penal code. 19 febbraio 2021 14

State of play • Use of straw as enrichment in in minimum quantities causes blockage of the slurry system. • Economic sustainability for repair/maintenance of the system • Economic costs for the rest of the necessary interventions 19 febbraio 2021 15

Summary of the situation Official veterinary inspections and Cross compliance Revaluation of the check lists used during official controls with the introduction of animal based indicators to be considered National animal welfare plan Pigs Use and consumption of antimicrobials Classyfarm Respect of biosecurity measures Slaughterhouse animal welfare evaluation results Individual farm veterinarian 19 febbraio 2021 Compliance to animal welfare legislation Prevention of tail biting and routine tail docking National action plan and risk analysis Data will be digitally uploaded a National archive for tail biting risk evaluation 16

Thank you