Reading Time: < 1 minute A new vaccine that combats salmonella bacteria that make pigs and turkeys sick has been developed. Vaccines generally offer protection from one type of salmonella but can leave animals vulnerable to infections from other pathogen types. It can also leave unaffected “commensal” organisms — organisms animals carry but do not adversely affect their hosts. Commensal […] Read more
New vaccine fights illnesses and improves food safety
Troops to help cull fowl in Philippines’ bird flu battle
Manila | Reuters — The Philippines will deploy hundreds of troops to hasten a cull of about 600,000 fowl, the farm minister said on Wednesday, as part of efforts to rein in the Southeast Asian nation’s first outbreak of bird flu. There has been no case of human transmission after the flu was detected on […] Read more
JBS still seeks U.S. unit IPO
Sao Paulo | Reuters — JBS SA will proceed with plans to list a U.S.-based unit when market conditions allow, as the world’s No. 1 meatpacker wrestles with a shareholder revolt over the role of the controlling Batista family in a massive graft scandal. In a Tuesday conference call to discuss second-quarter results, CEO Wesley […] Read more
JBS misses estimates as financial expenses soar
Sao Paulo | Reuters — JBS SA, the world’s largest meatpacker, on Monday reported second-quarter income that missed estimates as a spike in net financial expenses and its struggling South American operations weighed on results. JBS reported quarterly net income of 309.8 million reais (C$123.6 million), below a consensus estimate of 603 million reais and […] Read more
EU summit sought over major egg contamination scare
Brussels | Reuters –– The European Commissioner in charge of food safety has called for a meeting of ministers and national regulatory agencies to discuss a widespread European contamination scare, which has seen shops remove millions of eggs from sale. Tensions have risen between agricultural ministers in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany after traces of […] Read more
Philippines reports first avian flu outbreak
Manila | Reuters — The Philippines will cull 200,000 chickens, quails and ducks after confirming the country’s first outbreak of bird flu, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Pinol said on Friday. The avian flu outbreak was detected in a farm in San Luis municipality in Pampanga province, north of the capital Manila, which later spread to five […] Read more
Getting (a digital) read on how animals are feeling
Sophisticated camera technology can pick up subtle signs of cows in heat, and may one day be able to ‘read’ emotions
Reading Time: 2 minutes What do “The Lord of the Rings” movies and a study on animal expressions have in common? Both used motion capture technology — albeit for very different reasons. “Generally, we found that we could detect when the cows were in heat by using motion capture,” said Mirjam Guesgen, who recently completed her post-doc studies at […] Read more
Tyson posts better-than-expected profit, bets on chicken
Reuters – Tyson Foods Inc reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results on Monday, sending its shares up 5 percent, and said it would ramp up chicken production in the face of record demand from U.S. consumers. Tyson said it spent more money on advertising and marketing for chicken in the third quarter ended on July 1, bringing […] Read more
Egg production on the rise
CNS Canada – Canadian egg production has risen 4.4 per cent in the past year, according to data released today by Statistics Canada. Canadian egg producers generated 64.5 million dozen eggs from May 2016 to May this year, said StatsCan. Placement of hatchery chicks on farms rose four percent to 65.5 million birds from June […] Read more
Livestock premises ID participation strengthens Canadian agriculture
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is considering changes to the Health of Animals Regulations for livestock traceability, the agency announced during PremisesIDWeek July 26, a federal release says. The changes would require all Canadian operators of premises where livestock may be loaded or unloaded from a vehicle to have a valid premises identification number for […] Read more