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Danish Crown's slaughterhouse in Horsens has been temporarily closed following fears that a pig sent to slaughter may have been suffering from highly contagious swine fever. The pig was from a farm near Århus. There are relatively frequent swine fever fears in Denmark, but the country has not seen an outbreak of the disease since 1933.

To partially offset the slight decline in Philippine hog production in 2008, total pork imports increased by 38 percent from the previous year, mostly pork fats and skins for further processing. In October 2008, the Ebola Reston Virus in local pigs was initially reported in two commercial farms in the Philippines. The Philippine government announced plans to immediately depopulate the affected hog farm to prevent the further spread of the virus. San Miguel Corporation, the largest food and beverage conglomerate in the Philippines, announced plans for a $100 million expansion of their hog operation.

This natural ability of some ancient natural oils -- from geraniums, cloves, wild oregano, cinnamon and thyme, for example -- offers promise in finding alternatives to antibiotics used in animal feed, according to researchers at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) who are leading the study in collaboration with the Public Health Agency of Canada and the University of Guelph. The first focus of AAFC's research has been testing these oils as alternatives to dietary antibiotics in swine production. The results showed that many of the essential oils killed the "bad" bacteria without destroying the "good" bacteria in the intestinal tract.

New salmonella cases have been found on Finnish pork and poultry farms, as authorities grapple to deal with the country's worst outbreak in 14 years. Finnish food safety authority Evira said on Wednesday the bacteria has been found on two more poultry farms and a pig farm, bringing to 13 the total number of farms identified since February, when the outbreak began.

Livestock producers who find organic production an entirely different animal than what they're used to can now turn to a Purdue University resource for help. The Organic and Alternative Livestock Production Systems Web site provides a wealth of management and production tips for transitioning into the growing industry segment. Consumers also can learn more about organic products and where to purchase them in Indiana.

The Russian Government has reported on the agreement with Russian oil companies that in spring 2009 these companies will sell diesel fuel and low grade gasoline to farmers at fixed prices. Prices are fixed at the January 15, 2009 level: 13,823 RUR ($395) per metric ton of diesel fuel and 12,589 RUR ($360) per metric ton for gasoline.

The seventeen members of the new Pig Meat Supply Chain Task Force, set up to identify the biggest challenges faced by the industry and suggest solutions, met for the first time yesterday. The group is working to improve the resilience of the supply chain through: • investigating how a standardised code of practice for clearer labelling could be introduced; • improving pig herd health; • examining how to increase the amount of produce reared to higher British welfare standards bought through Public Sector procurement; and • addressing the regulatory burden on the supply chain.

Blue-ear pig disease has spread to new areas of the central Quang Nam province of Vietnam, said the Animal Health Department of Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on Wednesday. The epidemic has struck pig herds in 31 communes of four districts of the province, said the department.

If Brussels doesn't help the crisis-hit Danish pig industry it will flood the European market causing a price collapse, farms commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel has been told. Currently, countries producing mainly for the domestic market have seen an upturn, but countries such as Denmark, which depend on exports to third countries, are experiencing difficulties.

Decision 2008/185/EC lays down the additional guarantees relating to that disease for movements of pigs between Member States. Those additional guarantees are linked to the disease-status of the concerned Member States or regions thereof. The experience in implementing those guarantees has shown that it is necessary to clarify that the movement of pigs between Member States or regions thereof, which are free of Aujeszky’s disease and where vaccination is prohibited and which are listed in Annex I to Decision 2008/185/EC, does not require any additional guarantees.

Financial experts from leading cooperative banks met in Brussels last week to discuss agricooperatives’ access to finance and risk assessment. They concluded that agribusiness in general and agri-cooperatives in particular are well-placed to weather the current financial crisis, due to their business model being based on credibility, stability and a low-risk approach.

U.S. meat exports will be excluded from Mexico's tariff increases planned for 90 U.S. agricultural and industrial products, a spokesman from the Agriculture Ministry said on Tuesday. Mexico's national meat council confirmed that all meat products would be exempt from the new tariff rules.

European food labelling legislation, which included NFU amendments on country of origin labelling, has been postponed until the next Parliament as there are over 900 amendments.

Despite growing public support to ban the nontherapeutic use of antibiotics in food animals, a U.S. representative said on Tuesday efforts to move legislation through Congress this year could be met with resistance. The bill, introduced in the House of Representatives by Louise Slaughter and in the Senate by Edward Kennedy, would ban the use of antibiotics important to human health from being used on cattle, hogs, sheep and poultry unless animals are ill.