TheMeatSite Newsletter - 21 September 2011

TheMeatSite Weekly Newsletter

Wednesday 21st September 2011

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Welcome to this week's newsletter

Editorial: Objections Raised to Meat Inspection Charges Plan

Meat, food and agriculture organisations in the US have hit out at proposals to introduce “user fees” for federal inspection of meat, poultry and egg products as the committee works to craft a deficit reduction plan.

In a letter to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction the organisations say: "The industry stands ready to work with both the Administration and the Committee to find ways to reduce overhead costs at the Food Safety Inspection Service, especially in this time of extreme economic hardship, but those reductions should not jeopardize either the Agency’s public health mission or its Congressional mandate for continuous inspection in the meat and poultry industries.”

In the UK, the Food Standards Agency has called on the Government not to support European Commission proposals to relax a ban on using pig and poultry processed animal proteins (PAP) in feed.

The advice follows the FSA Board's discussion at its meeting in Cardiff on 7 September. Although the Board accepted that the available risk assessments showed that the proposed changes would give rise to a negligible risk, they were concerned that this relied on effective enforcement of controls.

However, the National Farmers' Union in the UK has expressed disappointment at the food authority's stance.

The UK authorities have also put forward proposals to allow the use of a biphasic carbon dioxide gas mixture to kill poultry in slaughterhouses.

The proposals are part of amendments to the Welfare of Animals (Slaughter or Killing) Regulations 1995 (WASK), which have been sent out for consultation in the industry by the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

Chris Harris

TheMeatSite Book Focus

Indicators of Milk and Beef Quality
The Cattle Commission of the European Association of Animal Production (EAAP) organised a specific session on the topic of defining quality and how to increase the quality of animal products at its Annual Meeting which was held in Bled (Slovenia) in September 2004.
All the review papers and the short communications which were presented in this session are in this EAAP publication.
Order Now Online

Nutrition and Feeding of Organic Cattle
The author, past-President of the World Association for Animal Production, utilises years of animal nutrition experience to describe the effects of feeding programmes using approved organic ingredients on cattle productivity, health and welfare. The book also provides up-to-date information on consumer aspects of organic meat and milk, and on production of greenhouse gases by cattle raised organically. Completing a trilogy of books specifically designed to address the feeding of organic farm animals, this text will be of particular interest to producers, researchers, lecturers, regulatory agencies, feed manufacturers, food producers and veterinarians.
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This Week's Feature Articles

We have 6 new features this week:

Cattle Breed and Fatty Acids in Muscle and Fat
The amount and type of fat in the diet has a major impact on human health.

Crowd-sourcing the E. coli O104:H4 Outbreak
Ten variants of the deadly Escherichia coli strain that hit Germany in May 2011 have been sequenced across the world.

Livestock, Dairy and Poultry Outlook
Amidst drought and domestically high feed prices, exports are flourishing, according to Rachel J. Johnson in the latest report from US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Economic Research Service.

Improving Ecological Footprinting of Food Products
International trade of food products is increasing. This means that food produced in one country may use ingredients sourced from other countries, which can make it difficult to assess the product?s real environmental impact.

The European Cheese Market
The EU cheese market is changing, forcing cheese suppliers to rethink their business models and explore new opportunities for growth. The main drivers behind these changes are falling growth rates in the EU, more pressure on margins because of higher revenues in powder and butter products, and volatility in commodity cheese markets.

World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates ? September 2011
The 2011 forecast of total red meat and poultry production is raised reflecting higher beef production but lower pork production, according to the latest USDA World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates.