Status quo: 19 November, 2009

Objective
To integrate existing knowledge into prediction models for three themes: pork quality, pork safety and animal welfare.

There is ample scientific information on effects of production systems on pigs and pork. Increasingly, however, it is getting more complicated to oversee causes and effects, even for well involved individuals. At first, this is caused by the overwhelming amount of knowledge that is and comes available. But also the increasing specialisation of disciplines makes it more difficult to understand (let apart predict) consequences of choices. Finally, the audience that demonstrates an interest in these quality aspects is widening. Not only those involved in producing pork have an information need. Also consumers and concerned citizens raise questions. Assessable media such as web based ‘what happens if…’ models can facilitate the communication between the pork industry and its political and social environment.

Modelling has proven to be an efficient tool to integrate information into accessible and usable formats. In Q-PorkChains project, a knowledge integration effort is being made on three themes (work packages): Meat quality (WP VI.1), Meat safety (WP VI.2) and Animal welfare (WP VI.3).

The knowledge integration methods (or modelling techniques) are quite different for the three themes. This ranges from an effort to introduce classical meta-analysis into the meat quality domain; to making a combination with small models to predict behaviour of a pathogen to combining animal and human science into an integrated judgement of animal welfare. All three themes aim at bringing their result (an interactive model) available for a wide audience trough a website. The degree of integration, and the magnitude of outcome (predictions or rather knowledge representation) depends on the results, and will become clear in the fourth project year.

WPVI.1: Meat quality is the result of complex processes during the life of the animal (muscle) and after slaughter (meat). Existing literature and datasets is used to integrate the various effect on technological and sensory pork quality into a quantitative prediction model. By now, the activities have changed from methods development, data base filling and testing towards analysing several specific complex topics of which considerable quantitative information is available (a.o. vitamin E enrichment and Hal-gene).

In WPVI.2, a quantitative risk characterisation model will be built that identifies the principle sources of microbial contamination in pork. The studies will focus on two pork pathogens: Salmonella spp and Yersinia enterocolitica. It is aimed that the impact of current and future technologies can be evaluated. The activities are running towards an end, several knowledge-gap filling small models have been developed concerning the farm phase, slaughter house phase and shelf-life.

WPVI.3: Animal welfare is not only related to the animals involved, but is also a concept that matters for farmers, citizens and consumers. Four simple modules will be built that represent these four interest groups. These modules will then be integrated into a model that demonstrates effects of choices in the production system for all four welfare dimensions. The conceptual framework has been developed and the human-directed conceptual modelling (of farmer, citizen and consumer) are being finished. First steps have now been made to apply more quantitative approaches (meta-analysis-like) for assessing environmental effects on animal welfare traits (e.g. stocking density effects).