Brasil Foods is expected to start building a poultry and pork processing factory in China at the end of 2013, said the company’s vice president for foreign markets, António Augusto de Toni, cited by Brazilian financial newspaper Valor Económico. António de Toni said that the investment would be made in partnership with China’s Dah Chong Hong (DCH), which is controlled by state company Citic Pacific, with which the Brazilian company has had a partnership since the beginning of the year to operate in the China, Hong Kong and Macau markets. Read More

Once riding high, Proposition 37, the statewide ballot measure to label genetically engineered foods, has seen its voter support plummet during the last month, and a new poll shows the high-stakes battle now is a dead heat.  After a barrage of negative television advertisements financed by a $41-million opposition war chest, a USC Dornsife / Los Angeles Times poll released Thursday showed 44% of surveyed voters backing the initiative and 42% opposing it. A substantial slice of the electorate, 14%, remains undecided or unwilling to take a position.  Read More

Extent of lower broiler production in 2012 depends on US economy, competing protein prices, and export demand, USDA reports

USDA is currently forecasting broiler production in 2013 to be just under 1 percent less estimated output in 2012, but the "amount and duration of the decrease" will depend on the health of the domestic economy, the level of competing protein prices, and the strength of exports demand, according to the "Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry Outlook" report released this week from the department’s Economic Research Service (ERS).

Earlier this month, USDA revised upward its broiler production forecast for 2013 as analysts expect lower feed prices to lead to more broiler pounds.  ERS noted that total broiler production has been "boosted" by heavier average weights during six of the first eight months of this year.  For January through August 2012, the average weight was 5.82 pounds, 0.6 percent more than during the first eight months of last year.  

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Meatless Mondays have arrived at Creighton, an initiative that has received mixed results from the students despite its best intentions. Creighton’s food provider, Sodexo, launched their Meatless Mondays initiative this year, offering meat-free options in a campaign aimed to get people to cut back on their meat consumption for both health and environmental reasons. "This was an international movement and Sodexo tagged along and catered to requests for Meatless Mondays," Resident Dining director Javier Lopez said. "There was feedback from students in many different organizations that we should go 100 percent with this initiative."  Read More 

USPOULTRY is accepting research pre-proposals from colleges and universities through November 1. Research proposals are accepted twice each year, in the spring and fall. A complete priority research list, including sub-topics and detailed instructions, is available on the USPOULTRY website. The list of research priorities includes the following: animal welfare, breeder management (broiler/turkey), broiler management, commercial egg production, diseases, employee safety and health, environmental management, feed mill operations, food safety, further processing, genetics, hatchery management, human nutrition, live haul, market turkey management, nutrition, poultry housing, pullet management, and processing. Go to www.uspoultry.org, and click on research for complete instructions and deadlines.
Proposals also are invited for new issues that emerge outside the list, but based on justification of the research need. Projects will be selected for funding in late March.
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In just a little more than three weeks, Californians will vote on Proposition 37, the Genetically Engineered Foods Right to Know Act, which would require labeling of food products made from genetically engineered crops. Food processors and agricultural groups, including the NCC, believe that such labeling will be used by anti-biotech activists to scare consumers. Additionally, such mandated labeling would violate the Food & Drug Administration’s (FDA) long-standing policy for labeling. Prop 37 once held a statewide lead by more than a 2-1 margin. In the latest poll conducted by the Pepperdine U. School of Public Policy and the California Business Roundtable, that lead has tightened – going from 48.3 percent to 40.2 percent, with undecided voters accounting for 11.5 percent.  Read More

Animal welfare and improving, monitoring and evaluating it are a high priority for the American Meat Institute and its members. But animal welfare, specifically for cattle and swine, is a complex subject not without its own controversies.

At the 2012 AMI Animal Care & Handling Conference this week in Kansas City, veterinary experts discussed the interface between animal welfare and consumers.

Gail Golab, PhD, DVM, Dipl. ACAW, director of Animal Welfare for the American Veterinary Medical Association, said there are three areas of controversy. Read More

BRF Brasil Foods, the world’s largest poultry meat exporter, will focus on international expansion for its Sadia brand to help diversify global revenue and reduce exposure to volatile commodity prices, the company’s international marketing director in Brazil told Reuters.  A further migration to processed foods will also reduce dependence on commodities, add value and reduce earnings volatility, Fabio Camparini, international marketing director, told the newswire in Sao Paulo.  Read More

Attempts to clean up our air and to ensure that the nation has enough milk to drink are on a collision course.  As a result, the future of California’s dairy industry looks sour. Around 100 farms are expected to go bankrupt this year alone, and the trend seems likely to continue if nothing is done.  Because of the demand for grain to produce the gasoline additive ethanol – which was supposed to reduce air pollution – plus a nationwide drought, many of the state’s cash-strapped farmers are selling their cows for slaughter because they can’t afford to feed them. It’s a "perfect storm," says Colin Carter, professor of agricultural economics at UC Davis, that could spell trouble for the county’s milk supply – 1 out of 5 glasses of milk consumed in the United States comes from California cows. And the increasing price of grain is hurting all livestock industries. Read More