Setting the Farm Animal Welfare Scene in North America

The objectives of this paper are to (1) set the scene on what animal welfare is, the schools that one can subscribe and how this could influence the direction that farm animal welfare could go (2) provide an overview on some of the critical farm animal welfare events that have occurred over the past 10 years in North America and (3) to review the legislative events; past and future that will affect farm animal welfare. Animal welfare is not a term that arose in science to express a scientific concept; rather it arose in western civilization through society to express ethical concern regarding the treatment of animals. There are three “schools of welfare”: the first school is a feeling-based school, the second is a functioning-based school and the third is a nature-based school. The importance of an individual’s philosophies and the “schools” that people ascribe to follow could have enormous consequences for the U.S. animal commodity groups in regards to the advice, information and direction that is provided pertaining to methods used for farm animal housing, feeding, handling, transportation and processing practices. Over the past decade there has been an escalation of welfare-related events in North America. These events have spanned from under cover investigations on farm and in plants, campaigns against fast-food chain restaurants, purchasing of shares and stocks by humane and rights groups, a push for assuring on farm animal welfare through a plethora of assessment, certification and third-party auditing programs and challenges to several housing systems (gestation stalls, veal stalls, and the cage system for the laying hen), downer animal act, and an update to the 28-h rule for farm animals through legislative initiatives. In conclusion, farm animal welfare is here to stay in North America. All individuals involved in the business of keeping animals for food have a huge responsibility in making sure that their animals are housed, raised, transported and processed with welfare forefront. The animal livestock industries will need to be on the forefront of the welfare issues that pertain to their industry and will need to show increasing accountability to their customers and consumers that farm animal welfare is of critical importance

GC-Recomposition-Olfactometry (GC-R) and multivariate study of three terpenoid compounds in the aroma profile of Angostura bitters.

Foods and beverage aroma results from multicomponent mixtures of volatile compounds present in the food that interact with olfactory receptors and produce a perceptual response in the brain. However, the perceptual interactions that occur when complex odor mixtures are combined are not well understood. Here we used Gas chromatography-Recomposition-Olfactometry (GC-R) to better understand the role that individual compounds have on the perceived sensory aroma of bitters. Bitters are the concentrated alcoholic extract of flavorful plant materials with a wide range of complex sensory and chemical aroma profiles that have not been extensively studied. Previously, we demonstrated that Angostura bitters are characterized by complex aroma attributes described as cola, ginger, orange peel, and black pepper and that the volatile composition of Angostura bitters is predominantly composed of terpenoids. Using GC-R to create in-instrument mixtures of the Angostura headspace extracts, the sensory attributes of Angostura extracts with linalool, α-terpinyl-acetate and caryophyllene omitted were evaluated. The omission experiments demonstrated direct and indirect effects of the individual compounds on the aroma attributes of Angostura bitters, through masking, additive, and synergistic interactions. Caryophyllene in particular, which was present in the headspace extracts at concentration only slightly above sensory threshold levels, had a large and unexpected impact on the sensory properties of the mixtures and may be most responsible for the aromas associated with the whole sample. The GC-R and statistical approaches used here provided valuable tools to reveal relationships among individual compounds and aroma attributes of foods that have not been currently theorized using existing analytical approaches

Recruitment and baseline characteristics of the Community of Voices choir study to promote the health and well-being of diverse older adults.

Objective:To describe the recruitment and baseline results of the Community of Voices study that aims to examine the effect of a community choir intervention on the health and well-being of older adults from diverse racial/ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. Method:Using community-based participatory research methods, we recruited adults age 60 and over from 12 Administration on Aging-supported senior centers in San Francisco into a 2-arm cluster-randomized controlled trial of the community choir intervention. Multiple outreach methods were used. We tracked outreach, screening, and recruitment metrics and collected demographics and baseline outcomes via community-based, interviewer-administered surveys and performance measures of cognition, physical function, and psychosocial variables. Results:The study contacted 819 individuals, screened 636, and enrolled 390 diverse older adults over a 42-month, phased recruitment period. The mean age was 71.2 (SD = 7.3), and the majority were women. Two-thirds of the sample are non-white, and 20% of participants reported having financial hardship. Discussion:Outreach and recruitment methods used in the Community of Voices trial facilitated enrollment of a large proportion of minority and lower-SES older adults in the final sample. Similar recruitment approaches could serve as a model for recruiting diverse racial/ethnic and socioeconomic older adults into research

The Micro-Environment in Trailers Transporting Market-Weight Pigs in the Midwest during Warm Weather

The objective of this pilot study was to determine how the micro-environment trailers transporting market-weight pigs’ change during different transport events in Iowa during warm weather. This study was conducted using 4 trailer loads carrying 680 mixed sex market weight (average 128 kg) pigs from commercial finishing facilities to a commercial processing plant all in Iowa. Data loggers were placed in 4 locations inside the trailer and a fifth data logger was placed on the outside of the trailer close to the cab of the truck on the driver’s side. Events of interest were loading, transport, wait time and unloading. Data from the logger placed on the outside of the trailer was used as a covariate in the regression. PROC REG of SAS was used to calculate the R2 value for temperature and relative humidity. Density, outside temperature or relative humidity, and time (minutes) were used as covariates in the models. Graphs were produced using the predicted values from SAS. Temperature increased during all events. Relative humidity increased during loading, but decreased during all other events. During loading, temperature inside the trailer increased by \u3c 1°C and relative humidity increased by ~ 1.5 %. During transport, temperature inside the trailer increased by ~ 10 °C whereas relative humidity decreased by ~ 23 %. During wait time at the plant and unloading, temperature inside the trailer increased by ~ 9 °C. During wait time at the plant, relative humidity inside the trailer decreased by ~ 11 %. During unloading, relative humidity inside the trailer decreased by 5 % whereas temperature increased ~ 8 °C. In conclusion, during warm weather, temperature increased during all transportation events. Therefore, it is important to manage the internal trailer environment to meet the pigs’ thermal comfort zone during transportation