Due to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, the risk it represents to public health, and the possible consequences for animal health and welfare, there is an increasing focus on reducing antimicrobial usage (AMU) in animal husbandry. Therefore, a great interest in developing alternatives to AMU in livestock production is present worldwide. Recently, essential oils (EOs) have gained great attention as promising possibilities for the replacement of antibiotics. The current study aimed to test the potential of using a novel EO-based pharmaceutical formulation (Phyto-Bomat) in bovine mastitis treatment. The antibacterial activity was performed using the microdilution technique. Lactating dairy cows were treated with 15 mL of Phyto-Bomat in the inflamed quarter for 5 consecutive days in order to analyze blood and milk samples for thymol and carvacrol residues using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC–MS). Antimicrobial activity expressed as the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimal bactericidal concentration (MBC) indicates that this formulation has the highest activity against Gram-positive strains. The dominant compounds in Phyto-Bomat were thymol and carvacrol, at 12.58 ± 1.23 mg/mL and 23.11 ± 2.31 mg/mL, respectively. The quantification of these two compounds in evaluated biological samples showed that 24 h after administration the concentration of thymol and carvacrol in milk samples was at the same level as before application. On the other hand, thymol and carvacrol were detectable in plasma samples even after 24 h post-treatment, with values ranging from 0.15–0.38 and 0.21–0.66 µg/mL, respectively. The tested formulation showed encouraging results of antibacterial activity against bovine mastitis pathogens, as well as the withdrawal period of dominant compounds, which implies that further testing regarding the bacteriological and clinical cure rates in clinical settings is needed.

Bovine mastitis is an important disease in the dairy industry responsi?ble for the welfare and significant economic losses in dairy cows. The treatment of choice for mastitis is the administration of antibiotics. However, this therapeutic choice has some disadvantages including presence of antibiotics residues in the milk, low cure rate as well as rapid increase in antibiotic-resistant pathogens. Therefore, new alternative approaches to antibiotics were investigated by different groups of researchers in order to find an effective approach for bovine mastitis therapy. This review was conducted in order to analyze different publications on usage of essential oils in relation to bovine mastitis. There are many in vitro studies for evaluating the antimicrobial efficacy of essential oils against many mastitis associated pathogens. In addition, numerous of tested essential oils have shown good efficacy with a wide range of minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) and minimal bactericidal concentrations (MBCs). On the other hand, only several in vivo studies have focused on therapeutic effects of essential oils. Moreover, recent studies indicate the possibility of using essential oils in the fight against biofilm which could be promising fight against bovine mastitis since unsuccessful antibiotic treatment can be associated with the presence of biofilms.

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The main subject of the research is the assessment of the knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of veterinarians regarding the use of antibiotics (AMU) and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) through a questionnaire conducted among veterinarians in the northern region of Serbia. A total of 62 respondents completed the questionnaire, which represents a response rate of 44.3%. Male veterinarians are less likely to be in the group of veterinarians with insufficient knowledge (p ˂ 0.05). Veterinarians engaged in mixed practice (small and large animals) (p ˂ 0.001) and veterinarians who have over 100 patients per month (p ˂ 0.005) are also less likely to be in the group with insufficient knowledge of antimicrobial resistance. The proportion of those with insufficient knowledge is growing among veterinarians whose source is the Internet (p ˂ 0.01), while the proportion of those with insufficient knowledge about antimicrobial resistance is declining among veterinarians whose source of information is continuous education (p ˂ 0.05). The majority of the respondents (n = 59, 95.2%) completely agreed that AMR is a very big issue in the global health sector right now. Unfortunately, there are crucial gaps in the knowledge and attitudes of the surveyed participants. They do not appear to be aware of the importance of AMU in veterinary medicine and its influence on overall AMR, or the crucial part that non-prescribed antibiotics have in all of it. Positively, many veterinarians use good practice AMU guidelines in their everyday practice and in line with the global trend of AMU reduction, respondents have also decreased their AMU compared to the previous year.

Heat stress (HS) is one of the greatest problems in contemporary chicken production and it entails significant economic losses. The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of early-age thermal conditioning (ETC), vitamin C (Vit C) supplementation, and their combination on the production characteristics and specific quality parameters of the meat of broilers which were exposed to chronic HS in the last two weeks of breeding. Four hundred broilers (Cobb 500) of both sexes were divided into 4 experimental groups. Group C was given Vit C (2 g/L) dissolved in water from day 22 until the end of production. Group T was exposed to ETC for a period of 24 h at the temperature of 38 ± 1 ºC and 40%-60% relative humidity on the fifth day of breeding. Group TC was the combination of the groups T and C, while group K was the control group. The results indicate that ETC, independently or in combination with Vit C, improves the production characteristics in terms of feed conversion reduction (P < 0.05). The examined treatments increase the volume (P < 0.05) of certain parts of the body (carcass, legs and thighs, and back) with regards to total body weight, especially in group TC. Regarding meat quality determined according to pH value and meat color criteria (CIEL*), the best results were also observed in group TC, followed by groups T and C. These results justify the use of Vit C and ETC in summer conditions, when heat stress is expected; however, the best results can be achieved by combining these two methods, thus producing a synergistic effect.

Međunarodna trgovina zahteva bezbednu hranu zasnovanu na posebnim higijenskim standardima, transpartentnim procedurama i programima. Meso, zbog visokog sadržaja vode i hranljivih materija, predstavlja idealnu sredinu za rast i razmnožavanje mikroorganizama. Salmonella, kao jedan od najčešćih patogena, koji se putem hrane prenose sa životinja na ljude, izaziva velike zdravstvene problem širom sveta. Iako je mortalitet nizak, ovo oboljenje nosi ozbiljne socijalne i ekonomske posledice. U Republici Srbiji se, prema važećoj zakonskoj regulativi, vrši kontrola prisustva Salmonella u mesu. U periodu od januara do decembra 2017. godine 193 uzorka svinjskog, goveđeg, jagnjećeg, jarećeg i živinskog sirovog mesa iz uvoza ispitanа su na prisustvo Salmonella spp. Ova bakterija je izolovana u jednom uzorku (0,52%) zamrznutih pilećih zadnjih četvrti poreklom iz Poljske, što predstavlja 6,67% od ukupno ispitanog živinskog mesa. Inficirana živina predstavlja najvažniji izvor Salmonella kod ljudi inficiranih putem lanca hrane. Biohemijskim i serološkim ispitivanjem utvrđeno je da pozitivan izolat pripada serotipu Salmonella Infantis. Ovaj patogen se poslednjih godina u Evropi nalazi na četvrtom mestu kao uzročnik salmoneloze kod ljudi, dok je prijavljen kao najčešći serotip izolovan iz pilećeg mesa. U cilju smanjenja prevalence Salmonella spp. potrebno je na pravilan način sprovoditi standarde bezbednosti hrane kroz ceo lanac, od farme do trpeze.

International trade requires food safety guarantees based on specialized hygiene standards, transparency procedures, and programs. Meat, because of its high water content and nutrition, can be an ideal medium for microorganism growth and multiplication. Salmonella, as one of the most common pathogens that can be transmitted from animals to humans, causes major public health problems worldwide. Although mortality is low, the disease has important social and economic consequences. Based on governmental regulation, Serbia runs an active, official control of Salmonella in meat. From January to December 2017, 193 samples of imported pork, beef, lamb, kid, and poultry meat were analyzed for the presence of Salmonella spp. Only one (0.52%) of all analyzed samples was positive to Salmonella spp. The positive sample was frozen chicken drumsticks together with thighs originated from Poland, which makes 6.67% of the total examined poultry meat samples. Infected poultry is one of the most important reservoirs of Salmonella that are transmitted to humans through the food chain. The identity of the isolated strain was biochemically and serologically confirmed to be Salmonella Infantis. This pathogen is in the 4th place of most common Salmonella serovar among human isolates in Europe and the most common serovar isolated from poultry meat. In order to decrease the prevalence of Salmonella spp. it is necessary to maintain all the food safety standards through the whole food chain, from farm to fork.

Summary An animal experiment can be defined as any procedure in which a live animal is used with the aim of testing a scientific assumption, gathering information, obtaining or testing substances or observing the effect of a particular measure on the animal, as well as using an animal in behavioral experiments. The Ethics Committee (EC) determines how animal testing shall be conducted and, in accordance with the Law on Animal Welfare, provides expert supervision of animal testing, organizes training courses for persons conducting testing, provides expert opinions to the minister regarding ethical and scientific justification of animal testing, and submits annual reports to the minister. The data used in this paper were derived in the course of work of the EC in the period between 2016 and 2018. The meetings of the EC were held on a regular basis and in accordance with the Rules of Procedure. Positive Opinions were issued for most of the submitted Applications (87.5%), while a smaller number was returned (6.25%) or directed to the Council for further consideration (6.25%). In several cases, the EC also issued Opinions that certain experiments are beyond its scope of authority and thus beyond its formal legal capacity. Based on the Application of a candidate, the EC also approved changes in previously issued Opinion to ensure consistency in the documentation. The Committee regularly submitted reports and there were no objections to its work. In accordance with the abovementioned, the performance of the EC can be considered efficient and successful, but it can be further significantly improved by more active effort of the individual members of the EC within their home institutions to educate candidates and raise awareness of the importance of the work performed by the EC.