Page 218 of articles about meat

The Salvadorian Minister of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG) authorized, for one year, the importation of pigs and pork proceeding from certified Guatemalan farms, alter confirming with Salvadorian authorities the elimination of swine fever on those farms.

An abandonment of piglet castration is approaching. Specialists believe that rearing the entire population of young boars is the best way to permanently abandon the practice of castrating male piglets without anaesthesia right across the board. That is the main conclusion reached by the expert workshop "Abandonment of piglet castration – status and perspectives" held by the Fed-eral Ministry for Nutrition, Agriculture and Consumer Protection together with QS Qualität und Sicherheit GmbH on 11 November, 2010 in Berlin.

Vietnam has allowed abattoirs in areas affected by blue-ear disease to resume slaughtering pigs, said Hoang Van Nam, Director of the Department of Animal Health.

Following Vietnam’s market reforms, its domestic production and per capita consumption of pork have risen substantially. Vietnamese demand for pork has risen due to higher incomes, an increasing population and growing urbanization. Vietnam’s increased pork supply occurred because of an increase in its stock of pigs and greater pork yields, the relative importance of which has varied.

In the 3rd quarter of 2010, just under 2 million tonnes of meat were produced from commercial slaughtering in Germany, 4.2% more than in the same quarter a year earlier. As further reported by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), this rise was mainly due to the significant increase in the number of pigs slaughtered. The production of poultry meat is also on the rise, while the production of beef is declining.

The majority of Europeans associate food and eating with enjoyment. According to a new Eurobarometer survey, those who are concerned about possible food-related risks tend to worry more about chemical contamination of food rather than bacterial contamination or health and nutrition issues. The poll also showed most Europeans have confidence in national and European food safety agencies as information sources on possible risks associated with food.

The Agriculture Ministry is planning to introduce double standards for agricultural products quality for three to five years: Ukrainian and European, Agriculture Minister Mykola Prysiazhniuk has said.

Cloning animals for food products is even less popular than GM food with 18 per cent of Europeans in support. In only two countries – Spain and the Czech Republic – does animal cloning attract the support of three in ten. This contrasts with 14 countries in which support for GM food is above 30 per cent. Is this an indication of broader public anxieties about biotechnology and food? The idea of the ‘natural superiority of the natural’ captures many of the trends in European food production, such as enthusiasm for organic food, local food, and worries about food-miles. And if ‘unnaturalness’ is one of the problems associated with GM food, it appears to be an even greater concern in the case of animal cloning and food products.

The Chinese government has sold its second batch this year of frozen pork from state reserves to help stabilize prices, the Ministry of Commerce said on Nov. 10.

Over nine months of 2010, Ukraine imported 268,000 tons of meat and by-products, 17% less against the same period of 2009, while export of these products increased by 57% and made up over 37,000 tons, First Deputy Head of the State Customs Service Oleksandr Dorokhovskyi said.

The invoicing and commercialized volume of pork meat will decrease in 2010 and 2011, after 2009 when consumption increased, but sales value decreased.

According to the Argentine Secretary of Agriculture, Livestock and Fishing, Lorenzo Basso, the decrease in cow meat has led to an increase in the consumption of pork meat.