The U.S. Animal Health Association (USAHA) has announced plans for its 115th annual meeting Sept. 29 to Oct. 5, 2011 at the Adam’s Mark Hotel in Buffalo, NY.

“USAHA is at the forefront of a number of livestock, poultry and wildlife disease issues,” says USAHA President Steve Halstead, DVM, Michigan state veterinarian. “At a time when animal health officials are dealing with dwindling resources, and there is increased attention on zoonotic diseases and safe food supply, the work of USAHA continues to become more critical.”

USAHA and the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians will feature a joint plenary session, “Evolving Food Systems for Global Food Security: Can Animal Production and Veterinary Infrastructure Keep Up?” The session highlights the critical role that state and federal animal health officials, private practitioners, laboratory and university scientists and new technology play in food animal production and securing the availability of food for an expanding domestic and world population.

“We often hear a broad range of conversations about how animal protein will increase in demand and contribute to feeding a growing global population,” says David Marshall, DVM, USAHA program chair and North Carolina state veterinarian. “A very important component of this is the regulatory, surveillance and diagnostic infrastructure – and it is necessary to address the changing food production landscape to ensure that infrastructure is positioned to effectively protect and serve the needs of the United States both domestically and internationally.” The session is set for Oct. 3 at 8 a.m.

USAHA’s 30 committees will hold sessions during the meeting, ranging from key disease and species-specific-based committees to broad impact issue-based committees including Food and Feed Safety and Foreign and Emerging Diseases.

Learn more about USAHA and its annual meeting at www.usaha.org. Additional information about AAVLD can be found at www.aavld.org.