The 2020 International Production & Processing Expo (IPPE) will offer a new education program titled, Processing for Antibiotic Free Production. The workshop, scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020 and Friday, Jan. 31, 2020, will focus on the elements that ensure appropriate antibiotic free production from grow-out to plant processing. The two-day workshop is a collaboration between the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association (USPOULTRY) and the University of Georgia’s Department of Poultry Science.

This one-and-a-half-day workshop is designed to focus on the hot topics in poultry production and processing, along with hands-on educational opportunities. The program emphasis will be control of Salmonella and Campylobacter in an antibiotic free (ABF) production system. Approximately 50% of poultry production in the U.S. is done in an antibiotic free production system, and additional measures are needed to reduce the prevalence and concentrations of Salmonella and Campylobacter on the farm in order to meet regulatory standards.

The first day will offer a selection of lectures and networking opportunities for attendees. Control measures that have been adopted internationally, such as biosecurity on the farm, hatchery sanitation, vaccinations, control of other production-related microbial and coccidial infections, will be discussed along with specific examples of countries and the efficacy of the measures adopted.

The second day, at the University of Georgia Poultry Science Complex in Athens, Ga., will focus on lectures, demonstrations and hands-on activities concerning hatchery sanitation and its contribution to pathogen control at production and processing. Other topics will include vaccines and their efficacy, biosecurity measures for adoption on the farms, associated control measures for poultry health, and contributions to the control of foodborne pathogen prevalence and concentrations. These activities are designed to provide the participants with state-of-the art knowledge, methods and processes in order to address the issues faced by the poultry industry today.

Processing for Antibiotic Free Production will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Jan. 30. Participants will meet back at the Georgia World Congress Center at 7 a.m. on Jan. 31 to be transported to the University of Georgia for the second day’s session, with the participants being transported back to the Georgia World Congress Center after the program ends at 1 p.m. The fee for this program is $600, and lunch is included both days.

More information is available on the IPPE website, where online registration for IPPE is now open.

Source: IPPE