India extends exemption for pulses

India has extended its exemption for three months so Canadian exports of pulses, such as lentils, will not need to be fumigated before leaving Canada.

India is fumigating shipments upon arrival there, but insists it wants the fumigation done before shipment.

Canada has countered that cold weather kills the pests of concern to India, and that it has banned the pesticides that are used in fumigation.

Negotiations will continue during the three-month extension.

Supply management’s on Trump’s hit list

Supply management is on United States President Donald Trump’s hit list for renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

He has sent a list of what he hopes to accomplish in negotiations to the Senate committee that will establish the U.S. desires in the negotiations.

Milk is top of the list; there has been little mention of supply management for eggs, turkeys, chickens and hatching eggs in rhetoric out of Washington.

What none of the Americans have been saying is that Canadian supply management for milk is the Canadian response to hefty subsidies and some trade barriers in the United States.

Beasley is new head of World Food Programme

Former South Carolina Gov. David Beasley has been appointed head of the United Nation’s World Food Programme, the largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide.

It helps about 80 million people in about 80 countries every year.

This year there are calls for a sharp increase in support because of the largest number of hungry people in the last 80 years.

Beasley is a supporter of President Donald Trump and was recommended for the job by U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Jose Graziano da Silva, the director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organization, made the announcement this week.

The executive board of the food agency, known as WFP, backed the selection.

Beasley will succeed Ertharin Cousin, an American lawyer and former U.S. ambassador, whose five-year term ends Tuesday.

                      

Two more herds released from TB quarantine

 Two more herds have been released from tuberculosis quarantine, bringing the total released to 25 and leaving 48 under quarantine.

There are about 9.500 cattle on those 48 premises.

The number of animals slaughtered has increased to 10,500, all of them owned by one operation with cattle on 18 sites in Alberta.

A cow at that operation tested positive for TB in September at a United States packing plant.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency then found six more infected animals on that operation.

The TB strain had not been seen in Canada before, but is similar to one in Mexico.

Chickens growing too fast

Chickens grow too fast for vaccines against Campylobacter jejeuni food-poisoning bacteria to work, says a British researcher.

There’s not enough time for a vaccine to give rise to antibodies against the bacteria, says Prof. Paul Wigley of Liverpool university.

The findings have important implications in the challenge of developing a poultry vaccine for campy, a leading cause of food poisoning.

In the first study of functional immunity to Campylobacter jejuni in the chicken, researchers have shown that antibody production plays a role, albeit limited, in the clearance of intestinal infection.

However, it fails to clear the bacterium within the lifetime of a commercial broiler chicken, which is typically around six weeks of age.

Wigley,who works  from the university's Institute of Infection and Global Health, said "our findings suggest that any campylobacter vaccine relying solely on an antibody response is unlikely to be effective in broiler chickens."
                        

Saputo sues B.C. milk board

Saputo is suing the British Columbia milk marketing board for $100,000 in the province’s Supreme Court.

Saputo claims $65,000 for a shipment of 17,784 litres of milk delivered in August, 2013, from Chilliwack Cattle Co.

It claims another $26,000 for a shipment of 120.029 litres from an organic farm that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency detained because it suspected feed was contaminated.

 On closer inspection, it turned out fine, but Saputo made its claim on the basis that the delay reduced the value of the milk.

And then Saputo refused to take delivery from Chilliwack Cattle Company after sensational news coverage of underground video shot for Mercy for Animals.

Chilliwack Dairy Co. subsequently pleaded guilty and faced a record-high fine for abusing animals.

Saputo is complaining to the court that it can only buy milk from the marketing board, meaning It can’t reject milk from farms it does not like.

I find it more than a little ironic that Saputo would complain about Chilliwack Cattle Co. hurting its reputation when a book has documented Saputo's dealings with the Montreal Mafia.