Page 902 of articles about news

The Panel on Additives and Products or Substances used in Animal Feed (FEEDAP) assessed the supplementary information supplied by the applicant on the impurities of L-valine. It concluded that there are no safety concerns resulting from the use of the additive L-valine in all animal species with a minimum content in the dry matter of 98 % L-valine and unidentified impurities of less than 1 %.

The European Commission has agreed a Communication that aims to improve the functioning of the food supply chain in order to lower prices for consumers. The prices of food have come down significantly from record levels earlier this year but the underlying causes for the surge in agricultural commodity prices in the medium-term -including regulatory restrictions, insufficient competition and speculation – have not disappeared and must be dealt with.

Russia will increase meat production by 6.7% up to 9.2 million tons in 2008. The highest increase rates will be registered in poultry (16.5%) and pork (8%) production.

The Commission wants to know if it has the right instruments to facilitate quality and to help farmers communicate on the quality of their products. For that reason, the Commission has decided to release a Green Paper asking open questions on the different issues related to quality.

Dairy and pig farms were already expanding their capacity to store animal manure long before 2005. In 2007, nearly 60 percent of pig farms had a storage capacity of 10 months or longer. In 1993 this was less than one third of farms.

Pork prices, which were blamed as a culprit for surging inflation in the first half of the year, fell 9.3 percent last month, against a drop of 1.2 percent in the previous month.

Governmental resolution N 828 dd. November 7, 2008 “On introduction of amendments in resolution N 732 of the Government of the Russian Federation dd. December 2005” is coming into force in the Russian Federation.

Pigs in three Philippine hog farms have been found infected with the Ebola Reston virus, a strain not harmful to humans, officials said Thursday.

EFSA has today published its statement in response to a request received from the European Commission on 8 December 2008 for urgent scientific and technical assistance following the discovery of dioxin contamination in some Irish pork. The Commission asked EFSA to provide scientific assistance on the risks for human health related to the possible presence of dioxins in pork and products containing pork.

The Council, enphasises the need to improve harmonisation of the Member States' assessment practices while ensuring that each GMP should be analysed on a case-by-case, welcomes the Commission's mandate to the EFSA to undertake a revision exercise started in March 2008 and to be completed no later than March 2010 regarding its guidelines on environmental risk assessment...

A four-month campaign to restore the tarnished image of Chinese food products and ingredients in the wake of the melamine scandal will begin this week, according to the government in Beijing. Its aim will be to ensure all food products are free of non-edible substances and excessive levels of additives. The campaign, to be organized jointly by nine central government departments, will be divided into three phases.

The Environment Agency could become judge and jury of IPPC. It wants the powers to fine pig and poultry producers up to £5,000 — without having to take them to court.

The OIE has informed about the presence of atypical PRRS virus in the district of Sto Nino (Pandi municipality, Bulacan province) and in the district of Pinagpanaan (Talavera municipality, Nueva Ecija province). Samples from the outbreaks were sent to the USDA Plum Island laboratory. Results show that samples were positive for porcine circovirus type 2 and atypical PRRS virus, which is 98% homologous to the atypical PRRS virus isolated in China and Vietnam. With high morbidity and mortality observed similar to China and Vietnam, it was concluded that these outbreaks were most likely caused by atypical PRRS virus.

According to the office of Sen. Pat Roberts, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is recommending that the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) be built at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kan.

In January-October 2008, Russia increased meat imports from far-abroad countries by 23.4% up to 1.32 million tons.

Year-to-date, pork exports are up 70 percent in volume versus 2007 to 1.5 million metric tons or 3.4 billion pounds.