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Update: Committees and meetings

Codex Committee on Veterinary Drug Residues in Foods (CCRVDF)

Dr Bill Jolly and John Reeve (National Manager - Toxicology and Residues) will represent New Zealand at the 13 th Session of the CCRVDF in Charleston, South Carolina, USA, from 4 -7 December 2001. Dr Jolly is the current leader of the delegation, but it is envisaged that John Reeve will take over leadership in the future.

A major issue to be discussed is the slow pace at which the Codex system operates, and ways to improve this. Some MRLs in the process are up for discussion and, hopefully, they will progress through the system. However, it has been noted that many substances that were on the priority list have had to be removed from the list because industry does not seem to be willing to submit the necessary data to have the residues properly evaluated

Animal Behaviour and Welfare Consultative Committee

Meetings of this committee act as a forum to keep organisations as diverse as teaching, primary production, research and governmental institutions informed about activities in relation to animal behaviour and welfare. Neil Kennington is the ACVM/ MAF Food representative on this committee.

The last meeting was held at LIC Newstead and included presentations from the representatives and from Malcolm Bailey on his position as Agricultural Ambassador.

Of note:

• The details of a major welfare and environmental standards initiative for the dairy industry were released. This is initially a voluntary programme but has great potential to set a new level of animal welfare on dairy farms.
• Research initiatives, including studies on feed additives to alleviate stress in livestock and the subsequent improvement in performance and meat quality, were outlined.
• Professor David Mellor summarised his research into the assessment of distress caused by castration methods in calves. This showed some important insights into a common husbandry procedure of some welfare significance.

18th Conference of Residue Chemists

Canberra
31 October - 2 November

This is a biennial Australasian conference of regulatory chemists (largely in government and state agencies) responsible for food residue and contaminant issues, analytical chemists in government and state testing agencies and also interested industry participants. Mike Clear, National Manager -Veterinary Residues, ACVM Group, and Warren Tully, Technical Assessor - Chemistry, attended the recent conference in Canberra.

Mike had the honour of chairing the session on Monitoring and Regulatory Issues. Some 44 oral papers and 30 posters were presented. They covered topics as diverse as new analytical methods and techniques; natural toxins and contaminants; laboratory proficiency testing, standard and accreditation; interpretation and application of ISO standards; and lastly regulatory issues. Both veterinary medicines and pesticides were equally represented. A keynote speaker from the EU Reference Laboratory in Holland was an invited guest. The conference was extremely useful for both ACVM Group attendees to keep up to date with Australasian developments and new perspectives in residue and food safety issues.

Additionally, Mike Clear had useful discussions with the residue assessment group at the National Registration Authority with a view to obtaining greater alignment of veterinary medicine residue data interpretation between the ACVM Group and the NRA at the time of dossier assessment.