National quality for animal welfare : steps forward!

Towards greater animal welfare: the appointment of the CTSBA

The members of the Technical Scientific Committee for Animal Welfare (CTSBA) have been appointed, which is included within the National Quality System for Animal Welfare (SQNBA). The decree signed by the Minister of Health Schillaci and the Minister of Agriculture Lollobrigida published the appointments of the members of the CTSBA.

This animal welfare committee has the task of defining the regime and management methods of the SQNBA, established pursuant to article 10 of the decree of the Ministers of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies and Health of 2 August 2022.

The tasks of the Scientific Technical Committee for Animal Welfare

The Scientific Technical Committee for Animal Welfare (CTSBA) has the task and objective of defining the following aspects:

• Clarify the requirements for the certification of the breeding of animal species of zootechnical interest and, if necessary, suggest changes or additions to the requirements themselves.
• Define a distinctive brand that identifies products that comply with the above-mentioned requirements.
• Ensure the harmonization and coordination of technical standards already recognized or authorized by MIPAAF or voluntary certifications issued by certification bodies, establish appropriate procedures.
• Outline how to use the data available in national and regional databases in the agricultural and healthcare sectors and any other information deemed useful for the implementation of the system.

How the CTSBA is made up

The CTSBA, acronym for Technical Scientific Committee for Animal Welfare, is made up of various figures as specified in article 10 of the decree of 2 August 2022.

We also quote the official text as per the official gazette source .

“The CTSBA, which operates at the Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies, includes:

• two expert representatives from the Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies;
• two expert representatives from the Ministry of Health;
• six representatives of the regions and autonomous provinces, three of which for the Agriculture sector and three for the animal health sector, designated by the Permanent Conference for relations between the State and the regions and autonomous Provinces of Trento and Bolzano; a representative of Accredia;
• three experts in the field of animal welfare designated by the Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies, two of whom belong to the Council for agricultural research and analysis of agricultural economics;
• three experts in the field of animal welfare, two of whom designated by the Experimental Zooprophylactic Institute of Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna, as the headquarters of the National Reference Center for Animal Welfare (CReNBA) and manager of the ClassyFarm system and one designated by the Experimental Zooprophylactic Institute of Abruzzo and Molise.”

The names of the new representatives

The Dr. Giuseppe Blasi will chair the committee, while Dr. Pierdavide Lecchini will be the Vice President. The CTSBA will be able to form working groups of up to five members, also with the help of external experts, for production purposes and these will have to report the results of the assignment to the CTSBA. The committee will adopt its own internal regulations within three months of taking office.

Masaf has appointed Dr. Giuseppe Blasi and Dr. Francesco Bongiovanni as representatives of Masaf. Instead, for the Ministry of Health, there are Dr. Pierdavide Lecchini and Dr. Ugo Santucci. The regional representatives are prof. Giuseppe Iovane, Dr. Stefan Mittich, Dr. Giudo Bronchini, Dr. Giovanna Trombajolo, Dr. Marco Farioli and Dr. Bartolomeo Griglio.

Furthermore, the three animal welfare experts are: Dr. Luca Buttazzoni, Dr. Monica Guarino Amato and prof. Nicola Lacetera. IZSLER, home of the National Reference Center for Animal Welfare (CReNBA) and manager of the ClassyFarm system, has designated Dr. Giovanni Loris Alborali and Dr. Luigi Bertocchi as animal welfare experts. The Dr. Luigi Possenti has been appointed animal welfare expert for IZS Abruzzo and Molise, while Dr. Silvia Tramontin has been designated for Accredia.

Any changes to the components of the CTSBA will be carried out by Masaf directorial decree. The secretariat of the committee will be carried out by the staff of Office VII Animal Biodiversity Enhancement of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry. The decree relating to the CTSBA can be downloaded from the Masaf website.