Fattening pig farmers benefit
In the future, pig farmers in the QS system will be able to get an overview of the animal health of their slaughter pigs much more easily and quickly using the diagnostic data from the slaughterhouses: QS Quality and Security GmbH (QS) has developed an animal health index (TGI) diagnostic data, which contains the diagnostic data from all slaughterhouses to which the farmer has delivered is systematically summarized. In the quarterly information letter, the animal owner will in future only receive a meaningful value for the TGIs respiratory health, other organ health, limb health and integrity.
“Using the new and very comprehensive calculation, we can now calculate the individual deviations of the individual slaughterhouses,” says Katrin Spemann, head of the animal husbandry and feed division at QS, explaining the innovation in the TGI findings data. “The animal farmers now have a clear value for the respective TGI and no longer have to classify the individual values of the different slaughterhouses. This provides clarity – for better animal health.”
QS carried out the cross-slaughterhouse calculation of the TGI findings data in collaboration with Prof. Dr. Joachim Krieter from the Institute for Animal Breeding and Animal Husbandry at the Christian Albrechts University in Kiel developed it. The new value replaces the previous slaughterhouse-specific animal health indices in the information letter to fattening pig farmers. The familiar graphical representation of the results in the information letter remains unaffected.
To calculate the four TGIs, QS used selected criteria that are crucial for assessing the health of a farm's animals. The indices help farmers to evaluate the data collected for their businesses and to use it for management in their own business. The pig-keeping companies can still view the individual diagnostic data from the respective slaughterhouses in detail in the QS database.
QS Qualitäts und Sicherheit GmbH Quality assurance - from the farmer to the shop counter
QS has been the economic institution for safety in the production of food and feed for over 20 years. The QS system seamlessly defines the requirements for food safety and quality assurance along the entire value chain for meat, fruit, vegetables and potatoes. All of the more than 180.000 partners in the QS scheme are regularly checked by independent auditors. Comprehensive monitoring programs and targeted laboratory analyzes support quality assurance. The products from the QS scheme can be recognized by the QS certification mark. It stands for safe food, the conscientious and monitored production of which all economic operators, consumers and society can rely on.
