On 11-15 April 2023, a study visit was held in the Latvian University of Life Sciences and Technologies (Jelgava, Latvia) in the framework of the project “Improving Higher Education Content in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan in Support of Industries for Sustainable Quality Agricultural Production (AgroDev) 619039-EPP-1-2020-1-LV-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP, funded by the European Union ERASMUS+ programme, with participation of lecturers from the K.I. Skryabin Kyrgyz National Agrarian University, S. Naamatov Naryn State University, Tashkent State Agrarian University and Samarkand branch of the Tashkent State Economic University.
During the five day study visit, the participants attended lectures and participated in practical and laboratory exercises in the areas of veterinary medicine and food technology.
On the first day of the study visit at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, one group of participants carried out practical work in laboratories: “On the principles of microbiological testing for food hygiene” (with teacher M. Terentjeva), “Parasitology methods” (with teacher D. Keidane), “Diagnosis of metabolic diseases” (with teacher A. Sematovicа). At the Faculty of Food Technologies the second group of participants listened to the lectures “New trends and research in food industry” (D. Klava), “Selection of necessary ingredients and products and recipe calculation” (J. Zagorska), did laboratory works on preparation of ice cream according to the recipe and maturation, evaluation of ice cream quality, microstructure, viscosity and sensory evaluation (with the lecturer J. Zagorska) and food industry sanitary hygiene (with the lecturer S. Sazonova).
On the second day the first group of participants continued their practical work “Food and environmental sampling – evaluation of results (M. Terentieva), “Practical demonstration of cow ultrasound” and took part in a workshop on the diagnosis of metabolic diseases (A. Malnieсе) and presented their individual works. The second group of participants listened to the lectures of the teacher J. Zagorska “Assessment of dairy products quality” and “Sensory evaluation” and performed laboratory work on evaluation of ice cream quality, microstructure, viscosity, with the teacher E. Straumitе carried out a sensory evaluation of ice cream.
On the third day of the study visit, one group of participants visited the sheep breeding farm ‘Mikaitas’, the breeding and control station ‘Klimpas’ of pedigree rams and learnt about the work of the Latvian Sheep Breeders’ Association. Another group of participants visited the cattle breeding training farm of the Latvian University of Life Sciences and Technologies ‘Vecauce’, where Elita Aplocina gave a lecture on the topic “Body condition score of dairy cattle”, at the end of the lecture, the participants assessed cattle on the farm.
On the fourth day of the study visit one group of participants visited agronomic analysis department of “HK Scan Latvija” processing facility and scientific laboratory of biotechnology (ISO 17025:2018 accredited laboratory). The second group of participants visited the goat farm “Licisi”, which produces and processes milk, cheese, yoghurt from goat milk, and visited the microbiological laboratory of food hygiene, where they did practical work on microbiological analysis for food safety assessment.
On the fifth day of the study visit, in the morning the participants listened to a lecture by D. Klavа on “Marketing Communication Process for Successful Sales” and cooked traditional dishes from Latvia, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. In the afternoon the participants made presentations of the prepared products, discussed the joint seminar (June 2023) and the final forum (October 2023).
Participants were presented with souvenirs and certificates at the end of the study visit.
