Reading Time: 3 minutes Consumer Reports’ Food Safety and Sustainability Center released its Beef Report last month. A number of questions, concerns and criticisms have been raised by the North American Meat Institute, the International Food Information Council, Business Insider, and others. Rather than answer the specific questions raised, Consumer Reports encouraged people to read the report more closely. […] Read more
Science lacking in alarmist report on beef safety
The numerous misleading statements in a new report are no reason for consumers to lose confidence in the safety of Canadian beef
What Consumer Reports said about beef safety
The organization claims that drug-resistant bacteria pose a serious and growing health threat
Reading Time: 3 minutes The following is excerpted from The Beef Report produced by Consumer Reports’ Food Safety and Sustainability Center. The full report can be found here. The danger of superbugs Foodborne illness caused by drug-resistant bacteria, such as the antibiotic-resistant strains of salmonella that have caused beef-related outbreaks in recent years, are also a major cause for […] Read more
The new world of ‘sustainable’ beef
Rancher Cherie Copithorne-Barnes has dealt with the movers and the shakers in the sustainable beef movement – and they're not all the same
Reading Time: 5 minutes Who’s driving this bus? Amid ‘grocery wars,’ Jamie Oliver, ‘hormone free,’ Walmart, and a storm of related debate, this is the core question many producers and others in animal agriculture have about the new swath of expectations and ‘sustainability’ programs taking hold in the industry and the marketplace. One person with a unique, up-close perspective […] Read more
Antimicrobial resistance in cattle means big changes coming
Resistance crisis even has drug companies calling for producers to change their ways
Reading Time: 3 minutes Multi-drug resistance to disease-causing bacteria is quickly becoming a complete “game changer” that could cripple the cattle industry’s ability to manage common bovine diseases. “We are really slamming into the end of the antibiotic era,” said Dr. Trisha Dowling, a professor of veterinary pharmacology at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine. “I’ve got 24 different […] Read more
Bovine big brother: Surveillance network gives cattle researchers priceless data
Network will yield insights into improving production and herd health — and reassure customers if there’s a sudden disease concern
Reading Time: 3 minutes You can’t pick them out from the road, but 120 herds of cattle across the Prairies are special. They’re participants in a “living laboratory” experiment that is advancing knowledge about the health of the western herd in a host of ways. “We have a mixture of small and large herds, somewhat representative of the number […] Read more
Antimicrobial use in livestock under the microscope
Expert says ‘there definitely is a chain’ connecting farms to the rise in antimicrobial resistance
Reading Time: 4 minutes Antimicrobial resistance is like a forest fire — because only you can take steps to prevent it. Think about resistance every time you use antimicrobials, producers were told during Alberta Pork’s latest telephone town hall. “Any single time one of us uses an antimicrobial, we are tipping the scales toward resistance, said Dr. Leigh Rosengren, […] Read more
Antimicrobial resistance in livestock a global threat: WHO
Resistance is developing because of farm use of antimicrobials
Reading Time: < 1 minute While Canadian farms haven’t been shown to be a source of bacteria resistant to human medicines, tests at abattoirs have found up to 70 per cent of bacteria are resistant to tetracycline, says veterinarian and consultant Dr. Leigh Rosengren. That shows resistance is developing because of farm use of antimicrobials. And that’s a major concern […] Read more
Rules planned to rein in antibiotic use for livestock
Health Canada is making its first move on new regulations to limit livestock producers’ own-use imports of veterinary drugs, and to tighten veterinary oversight of medicated livestock feed and water. Proposed changes to the federal Food and Drug Regulations and Feeds Regulations, announced Friday, tie into Health Minister Rona Ambrose’s federal action plan on antimicrobial […] Read more
Antimicrobial use could be slashed, say experts
Simple management changes, like pre-weaning vaccinations, can greatly increase immunity in cattle
Reading Time: 4 minutes The livestock sector could significantly reduce and in some cases, eliminate, antimicrobial use with simple changes in management practices, say veterinarians. And that would reduce the threat of antimicrobial resistance and boost consumer confidence in the cattle industry. “The key is to have animals that are properly vaccinated,” said Craig Dorin of Veterinary Agri-Health Services. […] Read more
Pain mitigation in livestock conference
Reading Time: < 1 minute The Antimicrobial Stewardship & Pain Mitigation in Livestock: Current Developments Conference will take place Jan. 27, 2015 in Olds at the Pomeroy Inn & Suites. The conference, which is free, will feature presentations on pain mitigation from a welfare standpoint, the management perspective, respiratory pathogens, pain mitigation for livestock, swine, and horses, antimicrobial resistance and poultry, […] Read more
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