Page 906 of articles about news

Wisconsin show pig producers, youth and others interested in the state's show pig industry are invited to become members of the newly formed Wisconsin Show Pig Association.

To cushion the impact brought about by recession especially for the most vulnerable sectors due to lost or reduced income as a consequence of the global economic crisis, this province is now implementing the so-called Comprehensive Livelihood Emergency Employment Program (CLEEP) under the Department of Agriculture (DA). The CLEEP identified for Ifugao involves the distribution of goats and hogs to farm families to utilize available backyard pastures and areas for their livelihood.

The American Humane Certified farm animal welfare program has announced it will launch an online Humane Care Training Program for livestock producers to use in educating employees, growers and contractors who handle animals.

The State Reserve announced a meat auction for March 25, 2009 where it is planned to sell 38,500 t of frozen pork of 2nd category in semi carcasses (starting price is US $ 105/t, 965,200 t of frozen poultry meat (halves and quarters) and 195,800 t of poultry meat (carcasses). The deadline for submitting an application is March 23, 2009.

This outbreak illustrates that good international communication channels, early alerting mechanisms, inter-sectoral collaboration between public health and food safety authorities and harmonised molecular typing tools are important for effective identification and management of cross-border outbreaks.

In a study described in Nature Chemical Biology, researchers from Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in Bronx, N.Y., are developing a new generation of antibiotic compounds that do not provoke bacterial resistance. The compounds work against two notorious microbes: Vibrio cholerae, which causes cholera, and Escherichia coli O157:H7, the food contaminant that causes approximately 110,000 illnesses and 50 deaths each year in the U.S.

Castration of male piglets without anaesthesia will be banned in Switzerland by 2010. As alternative solutions there are the following methods: castration with Isoflurane narcosis and vaccination against boar taint. The vaccination against boar taint is favoured by veterinarians, animal welfare and consumer groups and represents an optimal solution for producers.

Danish Bacon and Meat Council will change the priorities in its new plan of action against salmonella called SH IV, representing the fourth plan in a row. The new plan is supposed to improve the struggle against salmonella without great additional cost for the industry.

In his weekly radio address Saturday morning, President Barack Obama announced the appointments of Dr. Margaret Hamburg as commissioner of the Food & Drug Administration, and Dr. Joshua Sharfstein as the principal deputy commissioner.

The European Commission publishes the summary of the 560 stakeholder opinions submitted in response to the Green Paper on agricultural product quality policy.

The House Committee on Agriculture adopted the budget views and estimates letter which outlines the Committee’s budget recommendations for the federal agencies and programs under its jurisdiction for fiscal year 2010.

The total European Union breeding herd fell by an unprecedented six percent compared with a year earlier, according to December census results. Slaughter pigs are down five percent.

According to EPA reports, the overall ammonia nitrogen tested at Kaoping river, a major water source of the island, decreased by 0.2 cc/liter in the past eight years, a significant number when considering the volume of the body of water. The EPA also succeeded in closing over 4,000 pig farms near the five major rivers of Taiwan over the past eight years, said Chang Ting-jing, director of the Bureau of Environmental Inspection of the EPA.

The private sector anticipates food exports will drop this year by 15% from last year's 778 billion baht. The National Food Institute (NFI), the Thai Chamber of Commerce and Federation of Thai Industries project Thai food shipments of 661.2 billion baht this year due to the global crisis. The groups projected commodity exports worth 156.4 billion baht, down by 31.4%, semi-processed foods 137.6 billion (-16.9%), beverages 12.1 billion (-15.2%), animal food 38.46 billion (-11.8%) and processed food 316.58 billion baht (-3%).

Fears have also been expressed that the sow herd will shrink when the European Union partial ban on stalls comes fully into effect in 2013. Producers in other countries may decide to quit also, rather than invest in new sow accommodation. This will lead to a significant shortage of pigs on the continent from 2013 onwards.