This event, along with 17 other ones, has been projected and funded by the EU Steering Committee for EXPO in co-operation with ‘Universities for EXPO’, the Scientific Committee for EXPO of the Municipality of Milan. The aim that inspired the choice of this issue was to highlight the updates of the scientific research and the best practices adopted by enterprises involved in the animal food chain. Preparation and management of this event has been assigned to the Department of Health, Animal Science and Food Safety, University of Milan.
The issue of this conference is of great interest for several reasons, the main one is that the food demand in the world is growing intensively more than the food offer. The demand of food of animal origin weighs heavily on this phenomenon, particularly in countries such as Brazil, Russia, India and China. In fact, the improved economic conditions in these regions have allowed more and more people to have access to this kind of food. Now the issue is to offer good quality and nutritious food for everyone, in order to fully develop the potentiality of the population. This is necessary in particular in developing countries that need to improve the economic and social conditions and where too many people still suffer from hunger and hidden under-nutrition due to vitamin and mineral deficiencies. Under this point of view, the presence of meat in a diet, though in moderate quantities, can improve the quality of the nutrition, at the same time, it is necessary to have good quality products for a healthy one. The satisfaction of these necessities involves a series of problems: it is necessary to produce more vegetables for animal nutrition, to contrast and reduce environmental impacts deriving from animal farms (greenhouse gas emissions, in particular, methane from ruminants) and to contain the natural resources consumption, in particular water.
An increasing number of people in the western countries think that it is impossible to produce food of animal origin while reducing its environmental impact. As a consequence, more people become vegetarian or vegan. On the contrary, we believe that it is possible to reduce the environmental impact of the animal breeding activity with the help of the scientific research, through investigation, trials, applied good practices.
In fact, the progress of the scientific research has been important in all these issues; from the genetic improvement and appropriate breeding techniques devoted to the animal well-being to meat and milk quality which has been significantly improved during the last decades (more protein, less fats, etc.). Several research have been devoted to the reduction of nitrates derived from animal faeces (a very important problem for some European regions). Several other research and good practices showed the possibility to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions, by adopting adequate diets for ruminants.
It is vital to guarantee food of animal origin for all the people who ask for it, but without destroying environmental resources, and respecting the reasons of those who do not want this kind of food.
Moreover, it is necessary to develop dietary education in all countries, disseminate correct lifestyles, induce people to moderate their consumption and reduce the food waste, in agreement with the human health and environment conservation.
