Archive

BY MONICA DOBIE
A RECORD number of cattle remain on farms across Canada because of the bans imposed on the country’s beef exports following last year’s BSE scare. Statistics Canada has reported that 14.7 million head of cattle existed in January 2004, 1.2 million (or 8.7 per cent) more than the same period last year.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
A FEDERAL USA court jury has awarded cattlemen US$1.28 billion after finding Tyson Fresh Meats Inc., had unfairly manipulated cattle prices. The plaintiffs said Tyson relied on a captive supply, only buying in the cattle market when prices were low, thereby exploiting its dominant position to depress prices.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
TWO Australian drugs based on the human flu virus have proved effective against bird flu (H5N1 virus) in the laboratory, claims the country’s leading science body, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). It said in tests (including pre-clinical trials), flu drug Relenza and Tamiflu have shown effectiveness against the disease.…

BY MATTHEW BRACE
AUSTRALIAN government agencies have decided to aggressively push the export of speciality halal meats to Asia and the Middle East. They want to tap the rapidly growing middle-class of consumers in the regions. Plans to use Malaysia as a halal processing centre for Australian exports to Islamic countries are already well advanced.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL AND MARK ROWE
THE SPREAD of the bird flu virus is still not under control, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has warned, pointing to new outbreaks amongst poultry in Cambodia, China, Indonesia and Laos. The FAO said that more than 80 million chickens have so far been culled, excluding those in China: (Indonesia 15 million; Thailand 30 million; Vietnam 30 million; and Pakistan, 4 million).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A REPORT on a new BSE strain that has been discovered in Italy has suggested that it may cause a form of the related human disease CJD that has hitherto been considered to occur spontaneously. Its authors, coordinated by Italy’s National Academy of Sciences, have announced that the unusual BSE variant resembles this ‘sporadic CJD’ disease, rather than vCJD, already known to be caused by eating infected beef.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
FUTURE European Union (EU) research programmes affecting meat production should be reoriented towards consumer protection, animal welfare standards and environmental good practice rather than food production technology, the European Parliament has said. Its suggestions came in a report on the current and next EU (sixth and seventh) framework programme for research.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN INTERNATIONAL conference on the faltering World Trade Organisation (WTO) agricultural liberalisation negotiations has been told that full agreement is now unlikely to be achieved until 2007. If this comes to pass, it would drive a coach and horses through the existing January 2005 deadline for concluding the Doha Development Round, of which the agricultural talks form a key part.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
US supermarket mogul Ron Burkle is selling his stake in Irvine-based Golden State Foods for US$110 million, to Wetterau Associates, a St Louis-based investment group. Golden State is one of the largest suppliers of hamburger patties, buns and condiments to fast-food giant McDonald’s Corp.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKE
INDIA’S Dalmia Consumer Care company has launched a chewing gum designed to wean pan masala users from their habit. Its Chabaaza gumlets are priced at INDRupees 1 per pack (designed to imitate traditional pan packaging) and, whilst delivering pan-like taste, contain no supari or other addictive ingredients.…