United Nations Reference Center for Public Veterinary Health Opened at Freie Universität Berlin
Scientists Assist Developing and Emerging Countries
№ 010/2013 from Jan 17, 2013
A new reference center of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) was opened on Thursday at Freie Universität Berlin. The scientists of the institution are working on issues of healthy livestock and food production in developing and emerging countries. Their work includes consultations, on-site analysis, and troubleshooting. The official opening event was held in the Veterinarium Progressum building on the Düppel campus, where a key was symbolically handed over. The event was attended by several prominent individuals from academia and politics.
Four institutions from the Department of Veterinary Medicine at Freie Universität Berlin are involved in the FAO Reference Center for Veterinary Public Health: the Institute of Meat Hygiene and Technology, the Institute of Food Hygiene, the Institute of Animal Welfare and Behavior, and the Postgraduate Studies in International Animal Health unit. The director of the reference center is Prof. Dr. Reinhard Fries from the Institute of Meat Hygiene and Technology at Freie Universität Berlin.
The veterinarians will assist authorities in developing and emerging countries, for example with laboratory analysis in relation to zoonotic pathogens, which transmit diseases from animals to humans. Their many years of experience in the development and adaptation of regional control procedures for food-producing animals are an asset for their work in the reference center. They will also be training scientists from developing and emerging countries in pulsar laboratory techniques.
Interview requests and more information
- Prof. Dr. Reinhard Fries, Institute of Meat Hygiene and Technology, Freie Universität Berlin, Tel.: +49 30 838-52791, Email: reinhard.fries@fu-berlin.de
- Dr. med. vet. Nina Langkabel, Institute of Meat Hygiene and Technology, Freie Universität Berlin, Tel.: +49 30 838-52793, Email: nina.langkabel@fu-berlin.de
Internet
www.vetmed.fu-berlin.de/en/einrichtungen/sonstige/fao_ref_centre_vph/index.html