Work package 2: Quality and information management

Objectives

Improving the IT-Support of quality management (QM) to facilitate the chain-wide implementation process in meat production through new guidelines and integration models

Description

New guidelines for the IT-support will motivate actors to involve QM methods into inter-enterprise applications and will establish as well as promote up- and downstream quality information flows. Herd-health management in animal production plays an important role to establish preventive methods and to optimize treatments.

The recently started Work package ‘Quality and Information Management’ investigates the potential of new information sources from the slaughter line in the preventive herd-health management in Pork Supply Chains.

The effects of the additional information on the herd-health management, e.g. on the application of antibiotics, are investigated. The work has started with 20 pig farms, one slaughterhouse, one pig health veterinarian organization, a laboratory and the University Bonn as participants. The reliability and validity of information is assessed by collection of master data e.g. size, production system, health and performance data and information gathered at the slaughterhouse. Intervention measures will be derived and recommendations to improve animal health and the efficiency of production are given. The preventive measures relating to the findings will be standardized and scientifically validated.  Finally the effect of the additional information for the fattening will be assessed. The impact of these results will be that serology in the slaughter line may be used to support famers with their animal health management and the net-chain actors can benefit from the new generated knowledge.

Based on these results models for the integration of IT-support in quality and herd-health management systems in meat supply chains will be developed.