TheMeatSite Newsletter - 20 April 2011

Welcome to this week's newsletter

Editorial: See-saw World for Major Processing Companies

The consequences of a serious food safety scare to meat processing companies was seen this week when the Chinese pig meat processor Shuanghui resumed trading on the stockmarket after it had been hit by a scare of clenbuterol tainted meat.

Henan Shuanghui Investment and Development Co saw its stock plunge by 10 per cent

Shuanghui spent 31 million yuan ($4.75 million) on product recalls and its revenue dropped by 1.34 billion yuan in March, the company said in a statement to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Monday.

However, analysts are optimistic that the company is going to bounce back.

Meanwhile, in China, the Brazilian based meat processor Marfrig Alimentos is to form two joint ventures (JV) through its subsidiary Keystone Foods in China with the aim of exploring commercial opportunities to supply food products and meet the growing demand for distribution in the Chinese market.

The investment is expected to be worth more than $300 million.

In New Zealand, Silver Fern Farms has announced plans to build a new high-tech beef processing plant on its Te Aroha site, subject to final board and other approvals including union agreement.

At the same time, the company has said it is to buy Wallace Corporation’s meat processing plant at Waitoa.

In Denmark, the country's largest chicken producer, Rose Poultry, is to close its plant at Padborg with teh loss of approximately 80 jobs.

The decision to suspend production is, according to company CEO, Olli Antniemi, because the plant had had increasing difficulty in recent years sourcing chickens.

Owing to several public holidays in the UK over the coming two weeks, the next newsletter from TheMeatSite will be mailed to you on Wednesday 4 May.

Chris Harris

This Week's Feature Articles

We have 4 new features this week:

Avian Flu in US Would Cut Poultry Consumption
Poultry meat consumption patterns would decrease to varying levels around the nation but not significantly overall if there were to be an outbreak of avian flu in the US, according to a consumer survey carried out by Kansas State University.

Microbial Profiling for Foreign Beef
When a side of beef is neatly carved into steaks and roasts, bits and pieces of meat trimmed from these familiar retail cuts are left over. In the meatpacking industry, they are known, not surprisingly, as “trim”.

Drug Resistant Salmonella in Turkey Samples
Laboratory investigation of the Salmonella Hadar strain linked to a ground turkey burger recall and 12 illnesses reveals that it is resistant to several antibiotics, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry Outlook - April 2011
The US beef sector is expecting higher pries while the pig sector is showing a larger number of market hogs, according to the latest Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry Outlook from the USDA's Economic Research Service However, poultry meat production is expected to fall this year.