The European Commission's plan to relax the bloc's rules on mad cow
disease provides hope to food companies that they will have wider
access to beef suppliers, including those in the UK.
The discovery in Ireland of another probable case of variant
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) might turn some consumers away
from their meat, but perhaps they can be assured the country, and
the EU, seem to be winning the battle to...
Canadian frustration over the failure to reopen the US border to
Canadian beef imports has fuelled demands to accelerate the
expansion of its own meat processing capacity, writes Anthony
Fletcher.
Japanese food safety authorities have ordered further testing, after two cows were diagnosed with Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) during preliminary screening, Tom Armitage reports.
The agriculture secretary expressed his disappointment on Wednesday
that a judge has ruled to temporarily block plans to reopen the
border to young Canadian cattle.
UN-backed food organisation warns food producers and consumers to
stay calm, after a few cases of mad cow disease are identified in
Canada and the US, and last month the first case of Bovine
Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in a goat.
Current science finds no link between goat meat and meat product
consumption and variant Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease (vCJD). But a
group of experts calls for new research, to fully understand the
risk this meat may pose to the food...
Europe's food watchdog confirms the first case of mad cow disease
has been identified in a goat in France. This is the first case of
the disease identified in animals other than cattle.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has been asked by the
Health and Consumer Protection Directorate General (DG SANCO) of
the European Commission to provide scientific advice on the human
health risks related to the consumption...
A vaccine that prevents liver abscesses in cattle could help
restore consumer confidence and save processors and packagers
millions, according to researchers in the US.
The Canadian beef industry has lost an estimated $5 billion (€3.8
bn) since the discovery of a single BSE-infected cow in Canada last
year, according to a new report from BMO's Economics Department.
Unilever Bestfoods UK will change the formulation of its 100 year
old Bovril food product replacing the product's core beef
ingredient with a yeast mix, reports Lindsey Partos.
Brussels commits €188 million to food safety issues in the Union
linked to animal diseases, signing off the largest slice for
eradication of mad cow disease.
Europe's food safety authority backs calls for a rapid test for
live cattle in the battle against Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
and which could save on needless culling.
Scientists at Europe's food watchdog have upped their assessment of
the risk of finding mad cow disease in the United States, Canada
and Norway following an extensive study of data collected between
1980-2003.
Scientists in the US and Spain are trying to determine the factors
behind public perceptions of meat quality, in order to better plan
future business strategies and establish consistent labelling.
Ken Conrad, a farmer who has been farming organically since 1982,
believes that misinformation about the true nature of Mad Cow
Disease continues to cost the global meat industry millions.
Anthony Fletcher reports.
Science is getting to grips with mad cow disease. Researchers have
designed a synthetic protein (prion) that makes mice display
symptoms similar to those of the brain-wasting condition, as well
as offering the potential for new therapies...
In the wake of a mad cow disease-infected cow discovered at the end
of 2003 in the US, the government has come up with three new
actions to protect the food chain.
Food safety concerns rise in the UK as the Food Standards Agency
launches an investigation into the apparent failure by the meat
hygiene arm of the food watchdog to test some casualty cattle aged
between 24 and 30 months for BSE before...
Improving the quality and texture of beef for consumer tastebuds
could lift sales for a US beef industry knocked lately by the BSE
scare. In a recent link up, US agri-giant Cargill and life science
firm MetaMorphix have completed...
Risk management helped US firm Cargill achieve a 7 per cent rise in
profit for the three months to February this year despite tougher
trading conditions that saw raw material prices rising, a knock in
demand for soy through Asian...
Approximately one-third of global meat exports, or 6 million metric
tonnes, are presently being affected by animal disease outbreaks,
the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said today. With the
value of global meat and live...
Ways for industry to avoid losing billions of euros and dollars
through mad cow disease could find their solutions in maths and
physics, claim researchers at the University of
California.
A US delegation, which is in Japan this week to convince the
country to open the gates to US beef imports, may have its plans
scuppered as the Japanese farm ministry says it is very wary of
more BSE cases in the US.
The Russian government recently lifted import duties on soybeans,
corn and fishmeal for nine months starting 25 January, reports the
American Soybean Association, opening the way for soy movements in
the East.
As the United States deals with the fallout from the first case of
mad cow disease to hit the country, an international organisation
warns countries to stay on the alert and buck up controls.
Agri-giant and leading beef processor Cargill sees profits soar in
the first half of fiscal 2004. But as the fallout from the first
mad cow case in the US begins, pressure on current quarter figures
steps up with jobs already lost....
As the first case of mad cow disease sends US cattle prices
plunging on the markets and dozens of nations ban US beef imports,
new research shows that problems are starting at home in the
American kitchen as consumers begin to get...
US agriculture secretary Ann Veneman has announced a series of
e-Government initiatives in response to public fears over beef. In
a recent Wall Street Journal Online/Harris Interactive Health-Care
Poll, over one in five American adults...
As the US government gets to grips with the country's first case of
mad cow disease, scientists there are trying to clone cattle that
are genetically incapable of developing Bovine Spongiform
Encephalopathy (BSE).
Hope is on the horizon over the battle against mad cow disease.
Research by North Carolina State University scientists, in
conjunction with scientists from the Netherlands and biotechnology
company BioResource International, has shown...
The US department of agriculture (USDA) has decided to cull the
bull calf operation in Washington State where the single case of
BSE was discovered last month. But this is not enough for Japan,
which believes that new US procedures...
Only one more person from the Republic of Ireland (ROI) is likely
to die from variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) as a
consequence of eating BSE infected meat, scientists claim this
week.
Dumeco has been ordered to retrace 78 tonnes of beef this week
following the failure to test a cow for bovine spongiform
encephalopathy (BSE). Some 700kg is thought to have been consumed.
At the end of last week the USDA published a proposed rule aimed at
ending the ban on imports of Canadian cattle under 30 months old,
deemed to be at low risk for mad cow disease.
Belgian government officials said that the country will cease the eradication of entire herds in the case of new outbreaks of mad cow disease on farms, but slaughter cows selectively.
New knowledge on mad cow disease emerges as researchers across the
Atlantic claim to have developed a faster test for identifying the
disease, possibly even in living cows.
New knowledge on mad cow disease emerges as researchers across the
Atlantic claim to have developed a faster test for identifying the
disease, possibly even in living cows.
The Canadian government took a further step towards reducing the
risk of Canadians becoming exposed to the agent that may transmit
BSE with new rules that prevent specified risk material (SRM) from
entering the human food supply.
North American farmers were shaken this week when the Canadian
government confirmed on Tuesday that a cow slaughtered in January
from an Alberta farm had tested positive for BSE (Bovine Spongiform
Encephalopathy), or Mad Cow disease.
Researchers in the US are claiming that that a combination of high
temperature and high pressure during the preparation of processed
meats may reduce the presence of infective prions.