The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Madras Veterinary College to start B. Tech in food processing

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 30, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Madras Veterinary College to start B. Tech in food processing

Staff Reporter

Veterinarians have important role in ensuring quality production, says Vice-Chancellor

CHENNAI: . A B.Tech course in Animal Food Processing will be launched in the coming academic year at the Madras Veterinary College.

Initially, the course will have at least 30 students. With the growing popularity for animal food processing as an industry, it was decided to start such a course in the college, said N. Balaraman, Vice-Chancellor, Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University.

Emerging fields

Participating in the World Veterinary Day celebrations, he said that processing the animal products such as milk and meat was an emerging field and veterinarians played an important role in ensuring quality.

The veterinarians must also be involved in creating disease-free zones especially in the wake of emerging diseases such as blue tongue. Citing the popularity of pet rearing, he underlined the importance of the drive against rabies.

Rabies awareness

It was necessary to create awareness about rabies as the State has about 1.8 million dogs. Besides sterilisation medical attention was also essential, he said.

Dr.Balaraman stressed the role of veterinarians in meeting the changing needs of the society and for updating knowledge. He suggested that a State conference for veterinary surgeons be conducted regularly to build rapport and knowledge sharing.

He distributed prizes to students who won contests, including quiz, essay and oratorical, held as part of the celebrations.

Hands-on experience

P.Thangaraju, Dean of Madras Veterinary College, said such celebrations were conducted to provide hands-on experience to students. Mahalingam Nayanar, Dean, Faculty of Basic Sciences and K.Ameer Jan, Director of Clinics, also participated.

The World Veterinary Day is being celebrated in the college for the second year.

This year's theme was `Zoonosis, Food Safety and Continuing Education'.

Lectures, quiz competitions and anti-rabies awareness campaign were part of the three-day programme, which is to conclude on Saturday.

Besides conducting an anti-rabies awareness campaign for people, especially for those in North Chennai, where the disease is more prevalent, about 400 animals were administered anti-rabies vaccine.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu