Upcoming Conference: Managing Animal Mortality, Products, By-Products, and Associated Health Risk

January 12, 2012 — 

Register now for the International Symposium on Managing Animal Mortality, Products, By-Products, and Associated Health Risk, scheduled from May 21-24, 2012 in Dearborn, Mich.

Managing animal tissue (mortalities, products and by-products) is a significant challenge and a major responsibility for routine production of animals, as well as in emergencies. Catastrophic losses of poultry and livestock caused by disease, fire, or weather-related stresses, and routine losses associated with large-scale production operations have become significant environmental, biosecurity and waste management concerns around the globe.

Join veterinarians, animal industry and government professionals, academics, extension educators, food and agriculture emergency managers, public health managers, food animal processors, rendering professionals, and producers from around the world by registering at http://web2.msue.msu.edu/smam/register.cfm.

Register before April 20, 2012 to receive the $300 early bird rate. Take advantage of one of the four optional tours to see how border management, on farm composting and rendering are being handled in new and innovative ways. Tours are an additional $30. For those who are unable to attend the full conference, daily registration options are available.

The conference will feature poster sessions, keynote speakers, demonstrations of new technology and hands-on training activities. Sessions and speakers will include the following topics: environmental effects of disposal, mechanical disposal technologies, decontamination, animal mortality composting, depopulation, foods of animal origin, emergency response and policy and lessons learned. Click here to download a complete schedule. If you know someone interested in the partner program a full listing can be found here.

If you are interested in participating in the conference with a presentation or poster there is still time to submit an abstract. Information about submitting can be found at: http://web2.msue.msu.edu/smam/poster.cfm.

The symposium is supported by the National Center for Foreign Animal and Zoonotic Disease Defense (FAZD Center), a Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Center of Excellence, and various government and educational institutions across North America. The symposium will be hosted by Michigan State University. To learn more about the symposium and how to be involved as presenter, participant, demonstrator or sponsor visit http://umaine.edu/byproducts-symposium/.