The special them of Eggs! will come to VIV Europe this year. The eggs initiative was successfully hatched at VIV Asia last year, and comes home to roost at Jaarbeurs, Utrecht, the Netherlands from April 20-22.
Jaarbeurs’ Hall 7 will play host to the Eggs! Pavilion, the centre of focus for all things egg-related at the show. Amongst the many activities to take place at the Pavilion will be the Eggs! Conference.
Conference
Made possible through a collaboration between VIV and WATT Publishing, the conference starts on Tuesday April 20 and continues throughout the following day.
The topics covered, will include breeder management, incubation and hatchery, day-old chicks and rearing, layer farms, egg handling and egg processing and will reflect the various divisions of the Egg-track, which groups together those exhibitors with expertise in the egg arena.
The Eggs! Conference will be lead by Dr Simon Shane, professor at the North Carolina State University’s Department of Poultry Science, who will also give his views on the future of the industry.
The first day will then open with an examination of “Global Developments in Eggs”, followed by a questions and answers session. Peter van Horne, of LEI Wageningen will then look at: economic perspectives for the egg industry; production costs; international competition, and trade.
Under the heading of breeder management, abnormal eggs caused by disease will be the topic of discussion for Dr Jac de Wit, of the Dutch animal health service, while the future of egg laying industry from a genetic perspective will be the topic of Frans van Sambeek, ISA.
Incubation and hatchery will be the theme of the concluding topic of the day, with a presentation by Conny Maatjens of HatchTech.
Continuing the incubation and hatchery theme, day two opens with a discussion by Pas Reform’s Dr Marleen Boerjan of Circadian Incubation, the next generation of modular, single-stage technology. The incubation and hatchery theme will be further examinated by Professor Dr Eddy Decuypere, KU Leuven.
This will then be followed by a lecture on day-old chicks and rearing.
The Eggs! Conference covers all aspects of the egg industry and Dr Hans-Heinrich Thiele, of Lohmann Animal Tierzucht, will examine managing the modern egg type laying hen, while the influence of housing systems for laying hens on the microbiological egg quality, will be the topic of choice for Dr Koen de Reu, of the Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research.
Dr Kristof Mertens, KU Leuven, will share with delegates his views on keeping eggs intact – the importance of shell strength for egg handling. Paul Buisman, of Moba, will also share his perspective on egg handling.
As regards processing, Roberto Colavitti, of Sanovo, will share his expertise with delegates through a presentation on “There’s more to shelf life than pasteurization”.
Greater opportunities
For those delegates that have not had their fill at the Eggs! Conference, VIV Europe is also offering a Meat Safety Conference, and an Animal Health and Nutrition Conference and there will, of course, be numerous technical sessions organized by individual companies.
But there will be more to Eggs! than the Conference. The Eggs! Pavilion will play host to the Eggs! Information Lounge. The Lounge will offer visitors information on the latest developments and innovations in the sector.
In addition to being an information resource, the Lounge will be the meeting place where exhibitors, researchers and academics, and organizations can get together to exchange latest ideas.
In addition to the Lounge, Eggs! at VIV Europe will also be home to the Eggs! Museum, where visitors can walk through the history of the egg. The Museum has been made possible thanks to a collaboration between egg marketing initiative Blij met een Ei happy with an egg, and the Dutch Poultry Museum.
And as at Eggs! Asia, Eggs! Europe will see the return of the Eggtrack. This sees commercial exhibitors arranged by area of activity, be it monitoring or manure, transport or beak trimming.
