Germany saw a decline in meat production in 2012, to just over eight million tonnes (mt), but the Federation of German Meat Industry (BVDF) said exports have continued to rise.
Australia’s livestock export industry has voluntarily suspended exports to Egypt after video footage showed “extreme” animal cruelty at abattoirs in the country.
Ukraine has partly lifted restrictions on imports of cattle and small ruminants from Europe, while Russia and Belarus have tightened restrictions over Schmallenberg virus fears.
The Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) has said there are still a number of “crucial” issues to be addressed in order to ensure a workable CAP for Northern Ireland.
ABP Food Group has announced it is exiting the frozen burger market with the sale of the Irish processing plant which produced a burger containing 29.1% horsemeat.
An Estonian meat company whose sausages tested positive for horsemeat has claimed that the contamination could have come from raw materials imported from Ireland.
Horsemeat has again been discovered in beef by-products produced in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, with as much as 15% horsemeat found in some products. Previously, only traces of horse DNA had been detected in the region.
Three-quarters of Russia’s territory is unsuitable for any type of agriculture, including meat production, according to a new report from the country’s Ministry of Agriculture.
Scientists in Britain have developed a way of creating a wholly synthetic vaccine, taking away the need to use live and potentially infectious viruses.
The Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) need to re-evaluate its E.coli testing relating to the downstream processing of boxed beef products, according to the results of an audit from the Office of Inspector General (OIG).
Russia has announced it will ban imports of chilled meat from Spain and the Netherlands due, in its opinion, to a lack of proper veterinary control in these countries.
The Swedish National Food Agency (NFA) has announced that it has started testing meat products for undeclared pig DNA as part of its efforts to combat fraud in the food industry.
The Benin government has imposed cattle movement controls after reporting an outbreak of anthrax amongst cows in the north-west corner of the west African country, near the Togo border.
Russia is considering a ban on meat imports from 614 companies in Spain that were previously approved as suppliers under the guarantees of Spanish veterinary services, Russian veterinary watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor has announced.
Russian veterinary watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor has warned that it might soon update the list of possible meat suppliers from Mexico and Canada, excluding all companies that could possibly export meat with the forbidden feed additive ractopamine.
As the horsemeat scandal continues to spread across Europe and beyond, Simone Baroke, an analyst for Euromonitor, looks at the possible long term impacts.
A new £33m ‘food fortress’ aimed at improving sustainable, safe and secure global supplies of quality food, was officially opened by Tesco chief executive Philip Clarke in Belfast last week (14 March).
The European Parliament (EP) has backed budget cuts to the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) agreed last month by European Union (EU) heads of government and the move is expected to have a negative impact on EU livestock farmers.
New Zealand is a force to be reckoned with on the meat export market, and ships beef and lamb to an impressive 116 countries worldwide. However, limited lamb supply and the debt crisis in Europe contributed to a dramatic fall in the value of New Zealand’s...
Iran’s government allocated US$5bn in funds to support the country’s food security, with around half to be spent on meat purchasing to ensure there is sufficient cheap meat on the market, Vice-President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi announced recently.
A group of US food and agricultural oganisations has praised the Obama administration for launching free trade negotiations with the EU, but has called for any deal to address barriers to US meat exports.
As contamination scandals continue to rage through Europe, French supermarket giant Carrefour has announced a number of initiatives to improve the traceability and quality of its supply chains.
As the horsemeat scandal continues to rage through Europe, policy makers and industry are starting to reflect on what caused the crisis, and how it can be avoided in the future.
The European Commission has welcomed Thailand lifting its longstanding ban on bovine product imports from European Union (EU) member states, but has complained that Bangkok is insisting on expensive inspections for approved exporters.
A coalition of US health, food and environmental groups has written to US senators calling for urgent action to improve reporting of antibiotic use in livestock.
Russia may impose temporary restrictions on meat imports from the European Union (EU) because of the horsemeat scandal, the country’s chief medical officer has claimed.
In the latest twist in the European horsemeat scandal, Nestlé Spain has dropped contracts with one of its Spanish suppliers after horse DNA was found in a batch of meat labelled as beef.
Following last week’s announcement of a mandatory DNA testing programme for meat processors in the Republic of Ireland (RoI), farmers are seeking further measures to protect the quality and reputation of Irish meat.
Northern Ireland’s agricultural department is considering adoption of a ‘horizon-scanning’ system as a pro-active defence measure against food chain crises such as the horsemeat scandal.
Members of the European Parliament’s public health and food safety committee asked last night for horsemeat supplies within the European Union (EU) to be subjected to better traceability requirements, because of the ongoing labelling scandal.
Despite the ongoing scandal of horsemeat, there is still a growing demand for both cheap and premium cuts of beef across Europe, delegates to a meat conference in the UK were told.
