Friday, January 30, 2015

Foster Farms reaffirms commitment to Salmonella control

Perdue launches antibiotic-free chicken products for schools

European Parliament committee: Origin labeling needed on meat

IPC Rome meeting to focus on avian influenza’s impact

Americans to eat 1.25 billion chicken wings for Super Bowl

USDA proposes new measures to reduce Salmonella, Campylobacter

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Young professionals needed in the poultry industry

Foster Farms VP: It's about the process used to reduce Salmonella

Hard Rock Cafe Atlanta manager takes home IPPE chili award

Antibiotic-free chicken now in consumer mainstream

Feeding poultry diet high in DHA can help improve human health

Worker safety at processing discussed at IPPE 2015

Who won the 2015 Family Farm Environmental Excellence Award?

What are poultry, meat consumers looking for in the future?

NCSU kicks off fundraising drive for new layer research facility

Elanco announces full-value approach to poultry market

The best things come in small packages for UK egg producer

Chinese poultry temporarily banned from Armenia

  • Andrea Gantz
    Armenia has banned Chinese poultry exports because of concerns over avian influenza.
    From WATTAgNet:
    The state food safety service of Armenia has temporarily banned Chinese poultry exports to Armenia due to avian influenza cases that have been recorded in China, the press office of the agency has reported. Armenia’s ban on poultry from China particularly pertains to the import of live poultry, as well as poultry products, marketable and hatching eggs, tankage and feedstuffs.
    The ban implemented by Armenian officials is valid for poultry products imported from China after January 1.
    The Chinese poultry industry has been battling an image problem with avian influenza since 2012, and the problems have persisted with both poultry raised for consumption and birds in the wild. The most recent report of avian influenza reported by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) involved H5N1 avian influenza that was confirmed in whooper swans.
    However, avian influenza problems have surfaced in many other countries. The disease information page on the OIE website on January 22 contained reports of confirmed cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza in China, Taiwan, Japan, Italy, United States, Nigeria, Israel, United Kingdom, Canada, Vietnam and Palestinian Autonomous Territories. The OIE also has confirmed cases of low pathogenic avian influenza in Hong Kong and Germany listed on its website.

Russian ban on EU pork could end soon, European ag leaders say

  • freeimages.com/morderska
    European Union leaders are optimistic Russia's ban on EU pork products will be ending soon.
    From WATTAgNet:
    Russia’s ban on pork products from the European Union (EU) may soon come to an end as a result of recent negotiations, several European agriculture leaders say.
    The ban, which was implemented in January 2014, was made as a response to the detection of African swine fever (ASF) in wild boars in Poland and Lithuania. Russia later in 2014 further limited its sources for pork when it implemented trade bans on agricultural products from the United States, Canada, Australia and Norway, a move believed by many to be mostly political.
    Stephane Le Foll, French minister of agriculture, stated on January 19 that “an agreement in principle was reached on the resumption of French exports of live pigs, offal and pig fat to Russia.”
    The European Livestock and Meat Trades Union also stated meetings between EU and Russian officials in Berlin, “should allow a resumption of some products from the pork sector to Russia.”
    While some EU leaders are optimistic about the resumption of pork trade with Russia, the U.K. National Pig Association is still skeptical and more work needs to be done to reach an agreement.
    “Contrary to various claims, Russia has not yet selectively lifted the import ban,” said Digby Scott, spokesman for the association.

H5N8, H5N2 avian influenza confirmed in Idaho

Demand for sorghum on the rise

  • freeimages.com/wcfl10
    Sorghum is in high demand by China.
    From WATTAgNet:
    Sorghum is in high demand by China, and imports of U.S. sorghum to China increased 15-fold in the past year, pushing its price above corn in some parts of the U.S.
    Sorghum is a drought-hardy crop also known as milo that is grown in the Great Plains. According to a report, some Kansas grain elevators are offering farmers 10 percent more for sorghum than for corn.
    Because there is no futures market for sorghum, traders use corn futures to benchmark prices and manage risk.
    In the first 11 months of 2014, shipments of U.S. sorghum to China jumped 5.7 million metric tons, with a value of $1.3 billion, from about 362,000 tons a year earlier, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
    The USDA estimates that the U.S. produced 433 million bushels of sorghum last year, up from 392 million bushels the previous year. That’s compared with 14.2 billion bushels of corn produced in 2014.
    Chinese companies use sorghum in feed for pigs, chickens and ducks because it costs less for them to import it than to buy corn produced in China.
    Analysts expect the higher demand and prices for sorghum to encourage U.S. growers to plant more of it. Sorghum requires less water than corn does, and seed costs are lower.

Smithfield Foods named magazine’s sustainable processor of 2014

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Northern Ireland pursues pork trade with China

Big Dutchman acquires controlling interest in Proline Group

Fire kills 17,000 Jennie-O poults, nearly destroys barn

Cumberland County, NC, rethinking incentives for Sanderson Farms

  • Jason Morrison
    The commission of Cumberland County, North Carolina, will hold a public hearing on incentives for Sanderson Farms.
    From WATTAgNet:
    The board of commissioners for Cumberland County, North Carolina, has reopened the issue of whether to offer an incentives package for Sanderson Farms, which had been considering building a poultry processing plant in the county.
    After the commission in early January voted 4-3 against holding a public hearing for an incentive package for the poultry company, the issue had appeared to be dead. However, upon hearing that Sanderson Farms was no longer interested in building in Cumberland County after that vote, one commissioner changed his mind.
    The commission on January 20 held another vote on holding a public hearing, this time voting 4-3 in favor of holding a hearing. Commissioner Charles Evans decided to vote for the hearing, citing a need to be fair about the process.
    The hearing will be held on February 2.
    Sanderson Farms has met a fair amount of opposition from residents of Cumberland County, who fear that a new poultry plant would create traffic, odor and pollution problems.
    Cumberland County is not the only North Carolina county that has expressed an interest in the Sanderson Farms plant. Sampson, Hoke, Robeson and Harnett counties have all been examining the possibility. Other counties in Virginia have also reportedly been interested in luring a new Sanderson Farms plant.

Tyson Foods to pay $539,000 for chemical discharge

  • freeimages.com/Andreas Krappweis
    Tyson Foods has agreed to pay $539,000 for a chemical discharge that was responsible for the deaths of more than 100,000 fish.
    From WATTAgNet:
    Tyson Foods will pay about $539,000 for a chemical discharge that killed more than 100,000 fish and caused a the wastewater treatment system to fail in Monett, Missouri, announced Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster.
    Koster said that beginning May 16, 2014, the Tyson Foods facility at Monett discharged wastewater from Tyson’s Aurora facility containing a highly acidic animal feed supplement into the city of Monett’s sewer system. The discharge caused the city’s biological wastewater treatment system to fail, and contaminated water containing a high level of ammonia flowed into Clear Creek, causing at least 100,000 fish to die.
    Under the terms of the settlement agreement, Tyson Foods will pay the state of Missouri $162,898 for natural resource damages. In addition, Tyson Foods will pay $110,000 in civil penalties, will reimburse the Missouri Department of Natural Resources more than $11,000 for its costs and expenses, and will reimburse the Missouri Department of Conservation more than $36,000 for its costs and expenses.
    Tyson will also pay to replace a bridge over Clear Creek at Farm Road 1050 in Lawrence County that has acted as a barrier to fish moving readily up and downstream. Tyson will donate $10,000 to the James River Basin Partnership, a not-for-profit organization that works to improve and protect the water quality of all rivers, lakes and streams in the James River watershed, located in seven counties in Southwest Missouri. If the cost of the bridge is less than $210,000, Tyson will also donate additional funds up to that amount to the partnership.
    The agreement also outlines additional obligations of Tyson, including preparation of a hazardous waste manifest before transporting any hazardous waste in Missouri, and allows the state of Missouri the right to inspect the Monett and Aurora facilities at any time to check for compliance with the law and to monitor the progress of all activities required in the agreement.
    Koster said the company has already taken steps to ensure the mistake does not occur again, including:
    •New requirements and practices to prevent, monitor and respond to animal-feed releases at its corporate feed mills
    •Additional hazardous waste and water discharge training to personnel at the Monett and Aurora facilities
    •A new, company-wide environmental operating procedure that focuses on feed mill chemical storage practices
    •A summit of managers at all its Missouri facilities to conduct a comprehensive review of environmental issues at those facilities.
    "Tyson’s actions threatened the vitality of Clear Creek," Koster said. "While Tyson has taken steps to prevent similar environmental damage to the creek in the future, the penalties contained in this agreement hold the company accountable for the damage that occurred."
    Tyson Foods, in a statement, expressed regret for the incident.
    "Tyson Foods' core values include serving as stewards of the environment — in Missouri and every community where we operate — and we take that obligation seriously," the company said in a statement.