Asia Pacific | JAPAN/USA: US urges Japan not to restrict free trade in food s...

Asia Pacific

JAPAN/USA: US urges Japan not to restrict free trade in food sector 
The US is reported to have urged Japan not to implement food safety measures in a way that restricts trade. Number Of Australian Exporters Promoting Beef To Japan Up
The number of Australian beef exporters participating in an annual marketing program to Japan touched a new record of 37 for the current financial year, industry-funded marketing concern Meat & Livestock Australia said Monday. Australia cattle deaths rattle export rise
SYDNEY, July 15 (Reuters) - The death in transit of 300 Australian cattle aboard a new purpose-built vessel has cast clouds over the A$545 million a year industry just as total exports began to recover strongly from an earlier slowdown.

Americas

Argentine beef exports recover after foot-and-mouth crisis
Argentina has resumed beef exports to Qatar and Oman, and now sells the product to 42 countries, the government said, noting that an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease crippled beef exports last year.

Europe

Euro powers to parity with dollar
The euro has hit parity against the U.S. dollar for the first time since February 2000 amid continued concerns about Wall Street's accounting scandals.

USA

House Committee Approves Moving Part of APHIS to Homeland Security
The House Agriculture Committee Thursday passed by voice vote a bill to establish a Department of Homeland Security.  The Senate Agriculture Committee held a roundtable for Committee staff to hear statements from the animal and plant agriculture industry.  Gary Weber, NCBA executive director of Regulatory Affairs, presented a joint statement on behalf of NCBA, the National Pork Producers Council and the American Sheep Industry Association. Premium Standard Farms, PM Beef to partner in Process Verified pork, beef
PM Beef Group and Premium Standard Farms are partnering to provide Heinen's Fine Food's, a Cleveland-based upscale retail supermarket chain, the first combined USDA Process Verified beef and pork program in the country, according to a news release. Falling prices put hurt on beef industry
Summer - with all the barbeque grilling that takes place -might be a time to celebrate the beef industry, but there just isn't much to celebrate. Seaweed cuts deadly E. coli in beef
Brown seaweed found along the rugged coasts of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick significantly reduces a potentially deadly strain of E. coli found in beef, say researchers at an American university. Cattlemen Fight Key Battles in Beef Nutrition Arena
Beef's opponents were again widely attacking the product's nutritional benefits last week. But those who produce it were up to the challenge, as the beef checkoff worked to help set the record straight and assure that facts about the nutritional properties of beef were shared with media and others.

Pfizer shows the way

Pfizer, the world’s largest drug company, hopes to pull even further ahead of rivals with the $60 billion purchase of Pharmacia, a smaller drug firm. The deal is likely to spark yet another wave of mergers in the industry, which is struggling to maintain its profitability. But are more mergers really needed? ...