Webinar to discuss changing standards of poultry production

Throughout the past decade, the North American poultry industry has seen an increased and evolving voice from the end consumer. This voice has driven many changes and new aspects of thinking and evaluation of the standards used for poultry production.

Register at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/360792904?linknumber=website to attend the webinar, “Responding to Consumer demands with Nutrition solutions,” sponsored by Novus Mintrex and presented by WATT Global Media, on Wednesday, September 17 at 9 a.m. CDT.

Animal welfare as been one of the hottest topics in this space and continues to become a larger part of production practices. Many companies are now measuring animal welfare with standards that are much more in depth and stringent than before. They are bringing in team members to help evaluate parameters such as paw quality and gait scoring, then offering best management practices to enhance the well-being of the animals.

The other driving factor for change has been food safety. There has always been a strong desire for poultry producers in the U.S. to produce a quality safe product, but consumers are driving for even more measures of food safety in ways never thought of before. With changes in traditional poultry production to meet consumer demand, production managers have to find new and unique ways to maintain and reduce the incidence of potential pathogens in production which could have a negative effect on food safety.

By attending the webinar, you will learn:

• Foot pad health as an indicator of animal welfare
• The changes in animal welfare standards and measurement over time
• How consumer preference has driven change in poultry production
• The evolution of food safety parameters over time

The speaker for this webinar will be Dr. Karen Christensen, an associate professor and extension specialist at the University of Arkansas. She graduated from Washington State University with her bachelor’s and master’s degrees; she then went on to get her Ph.D. from Mississippi State University. Christensen worked for many years in commercial broiler industry in all areas of production including litter management, ventilation, broiler management, brooding and live haul. She has experience in the areas of technical service including ELISA testing in broilers and breeders, feed and ingredient quality and testing. She serves on the board of directors at the Professional Animal Auditor Certification Organization (PAACO) and is the broiler welfare auditor trainer during the poultry trainings offered annually. In addition, she is the director at the University of Arkansas’s System’s Division of Ag Applied Broiler Research Farm and is a member of the Arkansas Nutrition Conference.