TheMeatSite Newsletter - 23 March 2011

Wednesday 23rd March 2011

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Welcome to this week's newsletter

Editorial: Clenbuterol Scandal Rocks Chinese Meat Industry

China was thrown into the depths of a controversy this week, when clenbuterol was discovered in pigs at one of the leading meat processors in the country.

The growth promoter, that is banned across the world because of the risk to human health, was found in samples at one of the Shuanghui processing plants.

Authorities have been investigating more than 1,300 pig farms, 130 feed suppliers and providers of veterinarian supplies.

The government has ordered a crackdown to ensure more vigilant inspections and the Henan provincial government said it had started a new round of inspections that would be focused on other additives such as ractopamine and salbutamol, which were used as alternatives to clenbuterol but were neglected in the first round of inspections.

In the EU, a new report confirms that human cases of salmonellosis have been reduced by almost a half in five years.

Human salmonellosis cases were reduced from 196,000 cases in 2004 to 108,000 cases in 2009, thanks to measures introduced by the European Union, a report states.

The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has announced the implementation of revised and new performance standards for Salmonella and Campylobacter in young chickens and turkeys. The standards will become effective in July 2011.

Under the new standards, young chicken and turkey establishments will move to the highest scheduling priority due to the initiation of Campylobacter testing for these product classes.

In the UK, outline proposals for the setting up of a separate meat inspection system for Scotland have been prepared jointly by the Scottish Association of Meat Wholesalers (SAMW) and NFU Scotland.

The report says that the current UK-based service places Scotland at a disadvantage and presents a serious threat to the future viability of the Scottish meat and livestock sector.

Chris Harris

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This Week's Feature Articles

We have 8 new features this week:

Pig Price Cycle Moves Onward and Upward
By Chris Harris, Editor-in-Chief of TheMeatSite. Our snapshot of the ongoing global pig industry trends as reported in March 2011 Whole Hog Brief. To read the full detailed analysis, including all the commentary and graphical data, subscribe to the publication.

Capturing Value-Added Byproducts from Poultry Processing Liquid Streams
Millions of gallons of water are used daily in poultry processing operations, according to Poultry Tech from Georgia Tech's Research Institute.

Can You Trust Your Steak?
The DTU, Danmarks Tekniske Universitet, is helping to ensure that the food we eat does not contain pathogenic bacteria and hazardous chemicals.

Label Rouge: Pasture-Based Poultry Production in France - 2
Pasture-raised poultry is increasingly popular in the United States. American farmers and small companies can benefit from studying the French Label Rouge programme, write Anne Fanatico and Holly Born, NCAT Agriculture Specialists. Started as a grassroots movement, the programme now commands 33 per cent of the French poultry market and it has helped boost incomes for small farmers. This article explains the organisation of the system.

Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry Outlook - March 2011
U.S. beef exports for 2011 are forecast at 2.43 billion pounds while pork exports, at almost 369 million pounds, were more than 17 per cent higher than a year earlier and broiler and turkey shipments were both up from last year, according to the latest Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry Outlook from the USDA's Economic Research Service.

EU27 Livestock and Products Semi-Annual Report 2011
Lower feed prices in the first half of 2010 sparked piglet production and encouraged farmers to slaughter cattle and hogs at higher weights, according to the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service. As a result, the EU’s domestic supply of beef and pork rose significantly during the second half of 2010.

South Korea Livestock and Products Semi-annual Report 2011
The FMD crisis is winding down and is expected to come to an end by mid March, according to the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service. While the cattle sector, which was much less impacted, is still set to expand in 2011, the swine industry is reeling after one-third of total inventories were culled.

Argentina Livestock and Products Semi-annual Report 2011
Argentine beef exports for 2011 are now estimated at 270,000 tons, 30,000 tons lower than the official USDA estimate, according to teh USDA Foreign Agricultural Service. The main reasons for the drop are high local cattle and beef prices, significantly limited beef production, and the government’s limitations on exports, prioritizing the supply to the domestic market.

Company News

On-line Welfare Training Courses Launched
UK - rl consulting, based in Oxfordshire, UK has launched a series of inter-active, high quality on-line training courses under the name - 'Fundamentals'.

Global Meat Processing Industry News