Page 834 of articles about news

The European Commission has approved 16 programmes in 12 Member States (Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Latvia, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom) to provide information on and to promote agricultural products in the European Union.

A major offensive aimed at bringing Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) under global control has been launched by FAO and the Paris-based World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).

PORCIVIR is a project coordinated by CReSA for the study of swine viral diseases that have economic, sanitary and public health repercussions. PORCIVIR has an exclusive website available, in which you will be able to consult any information in relation to the project, including the last publications.

There remain many questions about this disease. In this respect, the OIE has made a call for enhanced surveillance among swine populations and enhanced on-farm biosecurity measures – including the protection of pigs from exposure to potentially infected people – and has stressed the importance of a strong cooperation between veterinary services and public health authorities.

A Brazilian delegation is negotiating to remove an embargo on beef and pork exports to South Africa. South Africa suspended beef and pork purchases from Brazil in 2005 after cases of foot-and-mouth disease were discovered in the states of Mato Grosso do Sul and Parana.

The country’s total live pig production for the first half of this year could reach 390.5 million, a 6% increase over the same period of last year.

An investigation by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) into the operations of a Levin piggery has concluded, with MAF determining no breaches of the current Code of Welfare for Pigs, issued pursuant to section 75 of the Animal Welfare Act.

The European Commission has approved under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of the US pharmaceutical and health care products company Wyeth by the US global pharmaceutical company Pfizer. The approval is conditional upon Pfizer's commitment to divest several types of animal health vaccines, pharmaceuticals and medicinal feed additives in the European Economic Area (EEA) or in specific Member States. The Commission had concerns that the transaction, as originally notified, would have raised competition issues in the field of animal health products on a number of national markets. In the light of the commitments offered by Pfizer, the Commission has now concluded that the proposed transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in the EEA or any substantial part of it.

Due to the decreasing production and increasing demand for pig meat in Poland, Polish imports of pig meat continue to rise. .

The decision affects Ontario pork products produced before May 15 and after July 18, 2009, and means that Russia no longer has any H1N1-related restrictions on Canadian products.

The second quarter of 2009 ended with both pork production and hog and pork prices below a year ago, which strongly suggests lower product demand. Lower production and lower prices are expected to persist for the balance of this year.

The Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural Development has published a comparative analysis of projections for agricultural commodity markets.

In the first three months of 2009, the sales of the Bulgarian meat industry registered an increase of 15.5% at current prices, according to the latest report from SFB Capital Market JSC.

It is expected that this year the production of pig meat will decrease by a few percent both within the EU and in the US and in both areas the decrease is due to the poor economy in the pig production.