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The European Commission adopted today a report in which it outlines a series of options for animal welfare labelling, to facilitate an in-depth political debate with the other institutions. The overall goal of policy in this area is to make it easier for consumers to identify and choose welfare-friendly products, and thereby give an economic incentive to producers to improve the welfare of animals.

The Food and Vetarinary Authority in Iceland has reported to the OIE the first case of A/H1N1 in pigs in the country.

Ukrainian frontier guards are taking measures to avoid appearing and spreading of the African swine fever virus in Ukraine.

Hog inventories on Canadian farms declined 7.3 per cent between the third quarter of 2008 and the third quarter of 2009.

The American Academy of Microbiology convened a colloquium October 12-14, 2008, to discuss antibiotic resistance and the factors that infl uence the development and spread of resistance.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy addressed the demands of farmers’ unions and agricultural employers in a speech on Tuesday, promising to protect the industry through one billion euros in government loans, 650 million euros in aid, and tax cuts.

According to Rabo Bank in their report entitled “The future of swine livestock in the Netherlands”, Netherlands will have only 4,400 swine herds by 2015, which is somewhat less than half the number of herds in 2005.

Pork production totaled 2.00 billion pounds, up 1 percent from the previous year. Hog kill totaled 9.94 million head, down slightly from September 2008. The average live weight was up 4 pounds from the previous year, at 270 pounds.

Due to growing concern over food safety along with a rising demand for hygiene, the Vietnamese government is pushing to reform and modernize its meat processing industry.

On October 15 this year the Federal Agency for Safety in the Food Chain (AFSCA) suspended the slaughter of pigs at a slaughterhouse in Liege due to a sharp increase in carcasses contaminated with Salmonella Ohio.

To assist the ongoing public consultation process on the future EU Animal Health Law, a dedicated page on SANCO website has been made available from 21 October.

The United States blocked on Friday requests by Canada and Mexico for World Trade Organization experts to examine new U.S. labeling rules that the two U.S. neighbors say are hurting their meat exports.

The European Commission has approved under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of the US healthcare company Schering-Plough by the US global pharmaceutical company Merck.