Page 504 of articles about news in Swine news

Food labels should feature mandatory nutritional information and guideline daily amounts, according to draft EU legislation as adopted by MEPs on Wednesday. However, they rejected a proposal for 'traffic light' values to highlight the salt, sugar and fat content of processed foods.

On May 28, 2010, Mexico published in the Diario Oficial (Federal Register) a new Reliable Importer Program for meat and poultry imports. This voluntary program will allow shipments of imported meat and poultry to forego sanitary inspection at the border, and instead be inspected at the destination, reducing logistical bottlenecks at border inspection points.

Following a request from European Commission, the European Food Safety Authority was asked to deliver a scientific opinion on the safety and efficacy of vitamin E as a feed additive for all animal species. Vitamin E is a well-established micro-nutrient for all animal species. Vitamin E-based additives are globally used in animal nutrition, and have been for decades, to prevent vitamin E deficiency.

The European Commission is studying the possibility of introducing a carbon tax with the aim of giving farmers an incentive to use the least polluting fuels and reducing household energy consumption.

In 2009 a total of 384 mill. Kg of meat was produced in Finland. This is about 25% more than in 1995.

Japan and China have endorsed a bilateral pact to improve food safety standards and restore confidence.

The Bulgarian Cabinet has decided to approve a strategy for the establishment of Bulgarian Food Safety Agency for as well as a Risk Assessment Centre under the administrative authority of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food. Bulgarian Food Safety Agency for will be subordinated to the Minister of Agriculture and Food with budgetary credits and will have controlling functions.

New farm income figures published show the difficulties on farms last year. The average family farm income in 2009 was €11,968, down by 30 per cent on 2008. That’s according to the Teagasc National Farm Survey published Tuesday, 8 June. This decline comes on top of a 13.7 per cent drop in incomes in 2008 bringing the overall decline in family farm income to 40 per cent since 2007.

The Agency has produced two new pieces of guidance that will reduce the administrative burdens of the meat industry and farmers, helping them to comply with the law while maintaining consumer protection.

FEFAC members have provided final estimates for the compound feed production for the EU-271 in 2009. The total production estimate is now set at 147.6 mio. t, i.e. 3.8% below the figure for 2008 (153.4 mio. t). The significant downturn has affected all animal species, in particular cattle feed (around -6%), pig feed (-5%) and, to a lesser extent, poultry feed (-1%).

Japan's new Prime Minister Naoto Kan and his cabinet were sworn in on Tuesday in Tokyo by Emperor Akihito.

A six-week consultation period on the new Nitrates Action Plan is set to be announced by the departments of Agriculture and Environment this week.

On an annual basis, fresh and frozen pork is up 3.1% while shoulder roasting joints are up 40% and loin roasting joints are up 11.7%.

In the course of the inspection of Brazilian meat processing plants, which was carried out by the Rosselkhoznadzor specialists in April 2010, it was found out that most Brazilian plants that used to export their products to Russia, do not fulfill veterinary-sanitary norms and requirements.

Funds left over from the federal government's hog farm transition program (HFTP) are now on their way to at least some of the producers who didn't make the cut during the program's fourth tender.

The average Belgian bought 32.1 kg of fresh meat in 2009. That is a decline of 500 g compared to the previous year.