Archive
International News Services archives articles supplied to clients one year or more after initial publication. These articles are protected by a password and not made available to readers without permission from clients. They are used as a background resource by agency journalists. Upon client requests, International News Services will remove such articles from the archive or not upload them in the first place. They are included to demonstrate the breadth of topics undertaken by the agency and also to help promote clients’ coverage.
ORGANICS STANDARDS
BY MONICA DOBIE
CHANGES to the American federal organic food standards have been rescinded after members of the organic food industry objected to the US Department of Agriculture’s plans to artificial aids on officially ‘organic’ farms. They would have allowed livestock feed containing non-organic fish meal, which can contain synthetic preservatives and contaminants such as mercury and PCB’s.…
BSE ERADICATION RULES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A PERMANENT shift away from former draconian rules insisting on culling a whole herd containing cattle with BSE has been confirmed by the European Union (EU) approving a new regulation demanding only the slaughter of a cohort related to an infected animal.…
BIODIESEL OPINION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A SPECIALIST committee of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has declared that manufacturing biodiesel is a safe way of disposing of so-called category 1 animal by-products, that could spread BSE or CJD. EFSA’s panel on biological hazards has concluded that because the material at the start of the production process is rendered and treated at 133Celsius for 20 minutes, “it may be concluded that the resulting biodiesel (and by-products) do not carry a TSE risk.”…
CANADA COMPENSATION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
DETAILS of the CDN$402 million handed out to Alberta beef producers following Canada’s isolated BSE outbreak have been released by the prairie province’s government. It said 96 per cent in federal and provincial payments went to beef ranchers (covering 836,000 cattle), with sheep, goat, bison, elk, deer, llama, alpaca, reindeer and caribou producers getting the remainder.…
ROMANIA AGREEMENT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
ROMANIA’S meat processing industry will be given three extra years – to the end of 2009 – to modernise and upgrade 26 slaughtering and meat processing units and two poultry processing plants to meet European Union (EU) standards, if the country joins the EU in January 2007.…
ZOONOSES RESEARCH
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is spending Euro 15 million on uniting European Union (EU) experts on food safety, animal and human health. The new EU Network of Excellence MED-VET-NET will – claims the Commission – for the first time, “unite medical and veterinary expertise in the fight against zoonoses”.…
WTO ROUND PROGRESS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
PROGRESS is being made at the World Trade Organisation’s Doha Development Round talks on agriculture liberalisation, their chairman Tim Groser has claimed following three days’ consultations. Participating Geneva diplomats have told just-food.com that all parties are moving towards a deal on a deadline for ending food export and a compromise on the extent of future non-emergency food aid.…
PORTUGAL - ECJ
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) has blocked a European Union (EU) Council of Ministers decision that would have allowed Portugal to pay aid to pig farmers, who had earlier been ordered by the European Commission to repay subsidies made in 1994 and 1998.…
CODEX MEETING
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD’S food standards body, the Codex Alimentarius, has approved an international code of practice on ‘good animal feeding’, establishing a global feed safety system for livestock. It advises on maintaining animal health and reducing environmental problems associated with particular feeds, (such as antibiotics) “in order to minimise risks to the health of consumers.”…
WTO - SANITARY COMMITTEE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
MEAT importing countries around the world are imposing unjustifiable restrictions on the entry of European Union (EU) meat because of now controlled outbreaks of BSE, foot and mouth disease and classical swine fever, Brussels diplomats told the World Trade Organisation’s sanitary and phytosanitary committee.…