Page 792 of articles about news

Authored by Colorado State University Professor of Animal Science Temple Grandin, Ph.D., with the Institute's Animal Welfare Committee, the 2010 edition includes an important new transportation audit that measures key animal welfare factors on trucks when they arrive at meat plants and as drivers and plant personnel unload livestock.

A suspected case of foot-and-mouth disease [FMD] was reported Thursday [8 Apr 2010] from a cattle farm on an island off the western coast of South Korea, the farm ministry said.

Scientists at the Wageningen University's Animal Sciences Group (ASG) presented a brochure called 'Varkansen'. The research, conducted at the request of Dutch agriculture minister Gerda Verburg, developed three designs for more sustainability in pig production; in translation called the Pagode, the Pillar and the Pearl.

An official from China's Ministry of Agriculture said the ministry will allocate more subsidies nationwide in a bid to build more standardized pig farms, aiming to stabilize live hog production.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality commissioned research into the impact on the pig farmer of the necessity to comply with government measures relating to animal welfare (Pig Decree) and the environment (Ammoniac and Nitrate Directive) after the end of the transition period. Based on individual pig farms in the Farm Accountancy Data Network, it was investigated whether farms can finance the necessary investments and whether the farm will have any income after that investment. It was also investigated whether pig farms can use alternative forms of housing which require less extensive investments. The policy for which the transition period ends in 2013 has far-reaching consequences for the entire pig sector.

An international EU-funded partnership is leading the way in food quality and safety. Headed by the University of the West of England (UWE) in the UK, the project, which includes eight institutions from seven countries, will study the genetic aspects of food quality to improve safety standards.

The aim of this project is to eliminate MRSA in pigs, or at least achieve a significant reduction in the level of colonisation, thus lowering or preventing the risk of human beings being infected. To achieve this, phage endolysins are over-produced in E. coli or Pichia pastoris. They are purified for use in the in vivo treatment of experimentally infected animals.