Asia Pacific | Japan: Nippon Meat Packers Subsidiary Falsifies Cattle Labels ...
Asia Pacific
Japan: Nippon Meat Packers Subsidiary Falsifies Cattle Labels
Tokyo, July 2 (Jiji Press)--A subsidiary of Nippon Meat Packers Inc. cheated its parent company of some 14 million yen by falsely labeling breeds of cattle, Nippon Meat Packers said Wednesday. The subsidiary, Nippon Food Packers Inc., overcharged the parent by wrongly identifying 761 cattle between September 2000 and October 2002.
New Zealand: Workers Sacked After $1m Meat Scam Uncovered
Four staff have been fired after undercover investigators busted a black market meat racket worth nearly $1 million at a Bay of Plenty freezing works.
Rising Aussie Dollar Causes Export Jitters
The rising Australian dollar is causing jitters amongst national exporters. The dollar reached a five-year-high of 68 US cents yesterday following the Reserve Bank's decision to maintain interest rates.
Europe
Biotech Food Rules Passed by EU
The European Parliament voted to end the four-year-plus moratorium on biotech food approvals Wednesday, but U.S. farm groups aren't happy with the methods used. The EU Parliament voted in favor of the new biotech rules it has been considering since 2001.
ASA: Frustrated by EU Biotech Rules
The American Soybean Association (ASA) expressed frustration the European Union (EU) has decided to adopt new regulations on mandatory traceability and mandatory labeling of biotech or biotech-derived products that will further restrict access for U.S. soybeans and soybean products while negatively impacting EU consumers.
Americas
CFIA: Mad cow may have originated in U.S.
EDMONTON - The single case of mad cow disease that has paralysed the Canadian beef industry may have originated in cattle imported from the United States five years ago, says the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. In a final report on its investigation into the outbreak, the agency refers to an unusually large 1998 shipment of 25,000 pregnant U.S. cows who had been born before the ban was imposed on feeding animal protein back to cattle.
USA
NAS Report Focuses on Fat Intake, Feed Controls as Dioxin Control Measures
The National Academy of Science today recommended the formation of a federal interagency group to develop and implement a risk-management strategies to reduce human exposure to dioxin, a toxic by-product of combustion and certain industrial processes that tends to accumulate in the fatty tissues of animals.
USDA plans livestock tracking system
(Drovers) - The BSE scare in Canada has U.S. agriculture officials investigating the need for a livestock tracking system. During a congressional hearing on the issue, Chuck Lambert, the deputy undersecretary for Agriculture Department marketing programs, said the identification system would be designed to improve food safety from farm to processor. Government officials and farm groups developing the identification network have not decided what identification method would be used and are not certain whether they want to make it mandatory. But Neil Hammerschmidt, a National Institute for Animal Agriculture official who is helping to design the network, predicted that microchips would replace tags within a few of years. "The goal is to have traceback capabilities within 48 hours of an outbreak," said Hammerschmidt, who also is the chief operating officer for Wisconsin Livestock Identification Consortium. It was also pointed out that pigs have been identified with tags or tattoos since 1988, said Jon Caspers, president of the National Pork Producers Council. Meatpackers can easily track down a market hog directly to its birth farm.
COOL testimony provides more perspective
(Drovers) - Several agriculture and livestock groups testified last month before a U.S. House of Representatives hearing on mandatory country-of-origin labeling. Representatives from the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, the National Pork Producers Council, the Colorado Farm Bureau, the National Farmers Union, R-CALF and the United Fresh Fruit and Vegetables Association unanimously agreed that COOL was not a food safety issue, but that it was a marketing issue, says NPPC president Jon Caspers. This appears to be a reversal of previous policies for some of the groups. NCBA President Eric Davis thinks there is momentum in the legislature to take another look at the law and possibly do something different. The House Appropriations subcommittee's action to deny funding for COOL is one such example. Davis says the NCBA and the NPPC continue to remind legislators that a voluntary labeling system would be preferred to the current COOL law. To read more, go to http://www.beef.org/.
USDA Meat Grading and Certification Fees to Rise
Meat packers and meat processors nationwide who request USDA grading and certification services will soon face a fee increase. USDA has announced it will increase the hourly fees charged for its voluntary meat grading and certification services effective July 13, 2003.
Farm incomes look better for 2003
(Drovers) - The financial picture for most U.S. farmers and ranchers appears promising this year, according to a report from the USDA's Economic Research Service. Increased acreage of major field crops and a return to more normal yields should add to receipts for most crops. The ERS also forecasts higher receipts for all livestock categories this year, with the exception of dairy. Beef is the major contributor to this increase, followed by broilers and hogs. In 2003, the livestock sector will account for about a quarter of the rise in net value added. Lower supplies of animals for meat will contribute to higher market prices. A weakening U.S. dollar, the report adds, could strengthen export markets and help compensate for weaker demand related to the slumping domestic economy. Click here for more.
Asia Pacific
Japan: Nippon Meat Packers Subsidiary Falsifies Cattle Labels
Tokyo, July 2 (Jiji Press)--A subsidiary of Nippon Meat Packers Inc. cheated its parent company of some 14 million yen by falsely labeling breeds of cattle, Nippon Meat Packers said Wednesday. The subsidiary, Nippon Food Packers Inc., overcharged the parent by wrongly identifying 761 cattle between September 2000 and October 2002.
New Zealand: Workers Sacked After $1m Meat Scam Uncovered
Four staff have been fired after undercover investigators busted a black market meat racket worth nearly $1 million at a Bay of Plenty freezing works.
Rising Aussie Dollar Causes Export Jitters
The rising Australian dollar is causing jitters amongst national exporters. The dollar reached a five-year-high of 68 US cents yesterday following the Reserve Bank's decision to maintain interest rates.
Europe
Biotech Food Rules Passed by EU
The European Parliament voted to end the four-year-plus moratorium on biotech food approvals Wednesday, but U.S. farm groups aren't happy with the methods used. The EU Parliament voted in favor of the new biotech rules it has been considering since 2001.
ASA: Frustrated by EU Biotech Rules
The American Soybean Association (ASA) expressed frustration the European Union (EU) has decided to adopt new regulations on mandatory traceability and mandatory labeling of biotech or biotech-derived products that will further restrict access for U.S. soybeans and soybean products while negatively impacting EU consumers.
Americas
CFIA: Mad cow may have originated in U.S.
EDMONTON - The single case of mad cow disease that has paralysed the Canadian beef industry may have originated in cattle imported from the United States five years ago, says the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. In a final report on its investigation into the outbreak, the agency refers to an unusually large 1998 shipment of 25,000 pregnant U.S. cows who had been born before the ban was imposed on feeding animal protein back to cattle.
USA
NAS Report Focuses on Fat Intake, Feed Controls as Dioxin Control Measures
The National Academy of Science today recommended the formation of a federal interagency group to develop and implement a risk-management strategies to reduce human exposure to dioxin, a toxic by-product of combustion and certain industrial processes that tends to accumulate in the fatty tissues of animals.
USDA plans livestock tracking system
(Drovers) - The BSE scare in Canada has U.S. agriculture officials investigating the need for a livestock tracking system. During a congressional hearing on the issue, Chuck Lambert, the deputy undersecretary for Agriculture Department marketing programs, said the identification system would be designed to improve food safety from farm to processor. Government officials and farm groups developing the identification network have not decided what identification method would be used and are not certain whether they want to make it mandatory. But Neil Hammerschmidt, a National Institute for Animal Agriculture official who is helping to design the network, predicted that microchips would replace tags within a few of years. "The goal is to have traceback capabilities within 48 hours of an outbreak," said Hammerschmidt, who also is the chief operating officer for Wisconsin Livestock Identification Consortium. It was also pointed out that pigs have been identified with tags or tattoos since 1988, said Jon Caspers, president of the National Pork Producers Council. Meatpackers can easily track down a market hog directly to its birth farm.
COOL testimony provides more perspective
(Drovers) - Several agriculture and livestock groups testified last month before a U.S. House of Representatives hearing on mandatory country-of-origin labeling. Representatives from the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, the National Pork Producers Council, the Colorado Farm Bureau, the National Farmers Union, R-CALF and the United Fresh Fruit and Vegetables Association unanimously agreed that COOL was not a food safety issue, but that it was a marketing issue, says NPPC president Jon Caspers. This appears to be a reversal of previous policies for some of the groups. NCBA President Eric Davis thinks there is momentum in the legislature to take another look at the law and possibly do something different. The House Appropriations subcommittee's action to deny funding for COOL is one such example. Davis says the NCBA and the NPPC continue to remind legislators that a voluntary labeling system would be preferred to the current COOL law. To read more, go to http://www.beef.org/.
USDA Meat Grading and Certification Fees to Rise
Meat packers and meat processors nationwide who request USDA grading and certification services will soon face a fee increase. USDA has announced it will increase the hourly fees charged for its voluntary meat grading and certification services effective July 13, 2003.
Farm incomes look better for 2003
(Drovers) - The financial picture for most U.S. farmers and ranchers appears promising this year, according to a report from the USDA's Economic Research Service. Increased acreage of major field crops and a return to more normal yields should add to receipts for most crops. The ERS also forecasts higher receipts for all livestock categories this year, with the exception of dairy. Beef is the major contributor to this increase, followed by broilers and hogs. In 2003, the livestock sector will account for about a quarter of the rise in net value added. Lower supplies of animals for meat will contribute to higher market prices. A weakening U.S. dollar, the report adds, could strengthen export markets and help compensate for weaker demand related to the slumping domestic economy. Click here for more.