December 01, 2021

Best of virtual convention now on AVMA Axon

Veterinary professionals looking to pick up some extra continuing education credit now have more options.

The most popular CE sessions from AVMA events, including AVMA Virtual Convention 2021, are becoming available on AVMA Axon. These include the 2021 convention’s two keynote sessions, “Cowboys and Pit Crews” by Atul Gawande, MD, and “Princess Found: You Are More Than Your Title” by Princess Sarah Culberson, that each offer one hour of CE credit; these are available for free and open to all. About 10 other CE sessions will be available by early December at member and nonmember pricing and also offer one hour of CE credit each.

Axon users who have questions about which type of CE best meets their needs should check their veterinary state licensing board’s website or CE criteria.

USDA aims to keep Salmonella contamination out of poultry slaughter, processing facilities

U.S. Department of Agriculture officials plan to study how to further reduce Salmonella contamination in poultry products.

Salmonella bacteria cause more than 1 million illnesses annually, and USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service officials noted in an Oct. 19 announcement that an estimated 23% of those illnesses are connected with consumption of chicken or turkey. They also noted that progress in reducing poultry-related illnesses could help achieve a Healthy People 2030 goal of reducing salmonellosis by 25%.

FSIS officials plan to seek stakeholder feedback on specific strategies to measure and control Salmonella contamination in poultry slaughter and processing establishments. Those strategies include pilot projects that could help identify better approaches to reducing salmonellosis, the announcement states.

“A key component of this approach is encouraging preharvest controls to reduce Salmonella contamination coming into the slaughterhouse,” the announcement states.

The plan announced Oct. 19 includes collaboration with the USDA’s Research, Education, and Economics mission on the topics of data collection and laboratory methods as well as the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods on ways the FSIS could improve its approach to Salmonella control, the announcement states. And FSIS officials plan to examine how they could identify not only the presence of Salmonella bacteria but also the quantity of bacteria present.

Morris Animal Foundation, CEO receive awards honoring women in business

Morris Animal Foundation and the organization’s CEO have both been honored by the Stevie Awards for Women in Business.

The foundation received a Gold Stevie for Achievement in Science or Technology for work to advance the health of companion animals and wildlife. The nomination focused on the foundation’s Australian Wildlife Fund and Golden Retriever Lifetime Study, both of which expanded under female leadership to develop and add technology that lets the organization share data with researchers internationally, according to an announcement from the Morris Animal Foundation.

Tiffany Grunert, the foundation’s president and CEO, also received a Silver Stevie in the category of Female Executive of the Year at a government or nonprofit organization with between 11 and 2,500 employees.

Though the award winners have been announced, the award celebration will occur in a virtual ceremony on Jan. 13, 2022.

Through the Australian Wildlife Fund, the Morris Animal Foundation funded $1 million in research toward helping animals rehabilitate, recover, and return to the wild following bush fires. The Golden Retriever Lifetime Study is a prospective study started in 2012 to identify risk factors for cancer and other diseases of dogs.

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