Our recently published review in English about rabbits describes environmental enrichments in farmed rabbits.    This review aims to provide a comprehensive synthesis of recent findings on environmental enrichment for breeding does and growing rabbits, focusing on the main categories of enrichment including social, sensory, physical, occupational and nutritional types, and their documented effects on animal welfare, integrating behavioural, physiological, and performance outcomes.    For more information see the rabbits on-farm welfare webpage.

Review of rabies analysis oral route diagnosis and follow-up vaccination carried out in the NRLs in 2024 is now available on the website (under restricted access)!

On 15 October 2025, the four EURCAWs organised an online meeting for the National Reference Centres (NRCs) for Animal Welfare and the National Supporting Bodies (SBs) of Competent Authorities. A total of 41 people attended the meeting. Excluding EURCAW and DG SANTE members, 23 participants from 14 EU Member States (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Estonia, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Portugal, Sweden and Slovenia) were present. The meeting aimed to facilitate mutual updates between the NRCs/SBs and the four EURCAWs, as well as promoting collaboration and knowledge exchange.   Four National Reference Centres from Italy, Finland, Belgium and France provided updates on their recent activities, including an introduction from the new Scientific Reference Centre for Animal Welfare of Farm Animals (RefWel) in Flanders.   Synergies between NRCS, SBs and EURCAWs were explored using a slido poll and this was followed by Centre-specific workshops to facilitate in-depth discussion of topical issues in animal welfare.   The topics discussed and the presentations can be found in the meeting report here. 

The EURL for Rabies is glad to announce that the next Rabies Workshop will held the 19 and 20 May 2026 in Padua, Italy. It will be a joint event with the OneBAT training, on viruses surveillance in bats, which will take place from 20 to 21 May. Please take note that this Workshop dedicated to NRL will be held on site only.  Save the Date in your agendas!  

Our recently published factsheet in English about rabbits, describes heat stress in farmed rabbits.    On top of direct welfare indicators that can be used to assess it, the use of resource and management-based indicators is suggested and described.   For more information see the rabbits on-farm welfare webpage.

A new 'Question to EURCAW' (Q2E) has been published on “Culling individuals”.   To see more, take a look at https://zenodo.org/records/17157586 and at our Question to EURCAW's subpage!   

Please meet us at Microbes 2025 in Bordeaux The SafeFood4ClimDiet team will be present at the Société Française de Microbiologie congress Microbes 2025, taking place at the Bordeaux Congress Centre, September 24–26, 2025. We will present our poster in the Food Microbiology session on Friday, September 26, 2025 (10:15 – 11:00) [Poster MA-P06] Poster title: "SafeFood4ClimDiet : dérèglement climatique, nouvelles pratiques alimentaires et émergence de risques microbiologiques"  [SafeFood4ClimDiet: Climate change, new dietary practices and emerging microbiological risks] Come and meet us to learn more about how the project explores the impact of climate change on consumer practices and the potential emergence of microbiological hazards. More about the congress

Maintaining high-quality litter (meaning dry and friable) is a primary objective in the management of poultry houses, as poor-quality litter could have significant consequences on the health and welfare of birds.   The assessment of litter quality can be done through various instrumental methods requiring time for analyses and/or specific costly equipment. In contrast, visual assessment can be conducted without any instruments, is instantaneous, and easily feasible.   However, visual scoring may be considered subjective, this is why EURCAW-Poultry-SFA studied the validity, inter assessor reliability and intra-assessor repeatability of three visual scores.   In this factsheet, the most reliable score is described with a method of assessment.   For moe information, see the broiler chicken welfare page

Aarhus University in Denmark has launched a new Master’s programme in Animal Welfare Assessment. The target audience is primarily for animal welfare inspectors employed by competent authorities.   “The Master in Animal Welfare Assessment has been established to provide further education for professionals who, directly or indirectly, work with animal welfare in their daily activities. The programme originates from the EU Animal Welfare Strategy (2012-2015), which assesses animal welfare based on animal-based indicators rather than regulatory control of animal housing systems.”   The programme is offered in English. The deadline for applications is 15 November 2025.   For more: https://www.au.dk/evu/nat-tech/master/animalwelfare    

Giulia Romano (TEGASC, Dublin) attended the 7th International Caparica Conference on Ultrasonic-Based Applications (Caparica, Lisbon, 22–26 June 2025), presenting an oral presentation entitled “Ultrasound-Assisted and Hydrodynamic Cavitation for Efficient Protein and Starch Recovery from Potato Processing By-Products”. Giulia Romano*, Shay Hannon,  Brijesh K. Tiwari   The work was conducted within the Up4Food project and focused on valorising potato processing side-streams using hydrodynamic cavitation-assisted extraction. Laboratory and pilot-scale trials confirmed the scalability of the method, producing protein-rich concentrates (~60%). The study demonstrates an efficient, sustainable approach for recovering proteins and starch from potato processing side streams.  Well done Giulia !