Page 893 of articles about news

A parliamentary committee will investigate last summer's deadly listeria outbreak in what critics say is an open show of distrust towards the government's own probe. A subcommittee of the federal agriculture committee will examine details of the outbreak – traced to a North York Maple Leaf plant last August – and look more broadly at the country's food safety net in order to understand how deadly errors happen and make recommendations for improvements.

A fishing trawler from Hirtshals will be the first boat to be equipped with an installation to process and store fish guts instead of throwing them overboard. According to fishing technologist Poul Ole Nielsen of the North Sea Research Center at Hirtshals guts can bring in 15 Eurocent/kg to the fishermen if sold for feed for e.g. pigs.

Ukrainian meat processors are facing rising pork prices.

This week in the Illinois General Assembly Senate Assistant Majority Leader Sen. James A. DeLeo introduced a bill that would amend the state's Humane Care for Animals Act. As written it would prohibit a person from tethering or confining any covered animal, on a farm, for all or the majority of any day, in a manner that prevents the animal from lying down, standing up and fully extending his or her limbs or turning around freely.

Vaccine for 165,000 pigs had arrived by Monday in Hongdong County, where the epidemic broke out, along with 430 exposure suits, 4.1 tons of disinfectant and 610 syringes for injections. Local officials quarantined 10 villages where infected pigs were found. As of Tuesday morning, 936 pigs had been culled and work was continuing.

Dr. Temple Grandin recently announced the launch of a "one-of-a kind" certification program that combines evaluating both sustainable and humane practices., Alameda, Calif.-based Niman Ranch plans to be one of the first companies to be audited and carry the certification seal for its humanely- and sustainably-raised natural beef, pork, lamb and chicken.

Prosecutors and authorities have launched mass safety inspections on milk and meat products in Bulgaria.

A new project granted by the Ministry of Science and Innovation will permit investigating new vaccine strategies against classical swine fever virus (CSFV) and studying the mechanisms of infection and protection. This project is coordinated among the Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal (CReSA), Centro de Biología Molecular (CBM SO-CSIC) and Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF).

Net farm income is forecast to be $71.2 billion in 2009, down $18.1 billion (20 percent) from the preliminary estimate of $89.3 billion for 2008. Still, $71.2 billion would be 9 percent above the average of $65 billion earned in the previous 10 years.

COMMISSION DIRECTIVE 2009/9/EC of 10 February 2009 amending Directive 2001/82/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the Community code relating to medicinal products for veterinary use.

Early indications point to a reduction in global cereal output in 2009 from the 2008 record, according to FAO's latest Crop Prospects and Food Situation report. Smaller plantings and adverse weather look likely to bring grain production down in most of the world's major producers.

In 2007, the Netherlands and Denmark had the lowest production costs for farming pigs of all the European countries studied. However, if the cost of production rights purchased is also taken into account - € 0.05 per kg - the Netherlands lags behind Denmark in terms of production costs. France has a solid third position on the list, whereas Germany, Poland and Spain - where production costs are around € 0.20 higher - are quite far behind the numbers one and two in Europe. The production costs in the US and Brazil are significantly lower than in Europe.