Page 910 of articles about news

With the start of the 2008-2009 crop year, the Canadian Grain Commission eliminated the use of Kernel Visual Distinguishability (KVD) as a registration criteria for wheat and introduced a new general purpose wheat class. Pork producers had been calling for the elimination of KVD for a long time and he considers the change extremely important for the swine industry. This will allow varieties that previously would not have met KVD and therefor would not have been allowed to be released to move forward and be licensed.

Lower mortality and more pigs finished per sow per year have given the British pig industry a boost, but it still remains one of the highest cost producers according to the latest BPEX publication.

A contingency fund of €180m to cover losses by processors and farmers arising out of Irish pork dioxin crisis will enable companies to recommence slaughtering and processing.

In 2007, estimated U.S. per capita total red meat and poultry consumption (retail weight basis) was 221.3 pounds per person, a record amount. However, contraction in the hog and poultry industries during the fourth quarter combined with lower slaughter cattle numbers suggests total per capita consumption will be down in 2008.

Q-PorkChains, an EU funded project of the EU 6th Framework Program and the largest project which is engaged in meat science, aims at setting up additional pilot and demonstration activities. New industry partners will be integrated via a competitive call in the first part of 2009 (March till May 2009) to test the most promising innovations deriving from the project.

The Member States of the European Union today voted unanimously in favour of a proposal to introduce a specific private storage aid scheme for pigmeat produced in Ireland. This EU-funded storage scheme, backed at today's Management Committee, will involve only meat coming from pigs reared in Ireland on farms not affected by contaminated feed. Under the aid scheme, a maximum of 30,000 tonnes of pigmeat can be stored for a period of up to 6 months.

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...