Teen dies in tractor rollover

A Mennonite teenager has died in a tractor rollover at a neighbour’s farm.

Police say the 15-year-old will not be named. 

He was driving a tractor, pulling a wagon, down a hill on Samuel Weber’s farm on the Jigs Hollow Road near West Montrose when the rig jackknifed, the tractor rolled over and pinned the boy underneath.

He was still breathing when rescue crews arrived, but died before he could be released.

His is the second tractor-related death within days in the area north-east of Kitchener-Waterloo.

Orvie Brubacher, 47, of Alma died when the tractor he was riding rolled over into a highway ditch before dawn. The driver was not injured.

Sobey’s recalls tainted beef burgers

Sobey’s is recalling its Compliments-brand Super 8 Beef Burgers made by Belmont Meats of Toronto because some have sickened customers with E. coli 0157:H7, the same strain that prompted the biggest beef recall in Canadian history by XL Foods Inc. of Alberta.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency originally said on its website that there have been no reported illnesses, but quickly amended that to simply say there have been reported illnesses.

It does not say how many or where.

The recall is from all Sobey’s stores, including Price Choppers, in Ontario and all of Atlantic Canada.

There is no information from the Public Health Agency of Canada about the issue.

Arsenic pulled from chicken feed

The New York Times has caught up with the old news that the companies that supplied arsenic as feed additives for poultry and hog rations have pulled their products off the market in the United States.

They actually made the move early this year, but it has become national news now that the New York Times has written about the developments.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has withdrawn approval for roxarsone, carbarsone and arsanilic acid, all of them used in feed for chickens, turkeys and pigs to prevent disease and promote growth.

The companies, Pfizer spinoff Zoetis and Fleming Labs, have mostly withdrawn the drugs from the market following studies that showed levels of arsenic in chicken that exceeded amounts that occur naturally,  the Times reports.

Swine fever devastating Russian pork industry

African Swine Fever continues to advance parts of Russia and one of the government leaders thinks it might wipe out the industry.

Anton Karmazin, a leading Russian veterinarian, said things are going “from bad to worst” and that the Russian hog industry is on the verge of collapse.

"Due to the active spread of African Swine Fever and Russia's accession to the WTO (World Trade Organization), which has led to the serious decrease of all tariffs on pork import from abroad, pig production in the country is currently standing on the brink of catastrophe,"  he recently told a national conference.

He is head of veterinary services for Rosselkhoznadzor district said every year the country recorded growth in the number of outbreaks of the virus which is increasing in a geometric progression.

"Infection covers new regions and the damage amounts to billions of rubles," he said.

According to Karmazin, to stop the spread of the African Swine Fever the country should change the legislative base of the veterinary system as well as the structure of the veterinary services.

Where’s the beef?

Americans are eating much less beef, but lots more chicken.

The Center For Science in the Public Interest says per capita beef consumption has fallen to the lowest level since the 1950s, but chicken consumption continues to set records.

Per capital beef consumption is about 44 pounds a year now, about 30 per cent less than the late 1970s.

Annual chicken consumption has more than doubled to about 46 pounds per person since 1970, while pork has held steady for three decades at around 30 pounds per person annually, according to the report.

There has also been a recent shift from prime beef to lower-priced cuts, especially to ground beef sold as hamburgers and in many other forms, such as sausage and new heat-and-serve products.

Last winter, a market analyst from the United States told the annual meeting of the Waterloo Cattlemen's Association that he thinks the demand for feedlot cattle will continue to decline, but that there will be profits for cattle grazed on ranches and pastures and fed only forages during the winter.

He predicted the North American beef industry will split into two well-defined streams with separate pricing and much different quality specifications from packers.

Maple Lodge loses poultry welfare court challenge

Maple Lodge Farms Ltd. of Norval, Ont., has lost in an appeal of a fine for abusing spent hens during transport to its slaughter plant.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency imposed the penalties and this week a federal judge ruled against the company’s appeal on two counts.

The company faces another 58 penalties assessed during 2008 and 2009.

The volume of imported spent hens has soared as processors seek additional chicken supplies at lower prices than charged by the Canadian marketing boards.

The chicken marketing boards have been lobbying the federal and provincial governments to find ways to restrict imports of spent hens from the U.S.

Animal welfare groups have also been keeping a watch on truckloads of poultry and hogs moving to packing plants in the metropolitan area of Toronto.

Maple Lodge’s plant is at the western outskirts of Brampton. Quality Meat Packers has a hog-packing plant in Toronto that is surrounded by condominium homes.

Humane Society claims public support for labeling

The Humane Society International/Canada has stepped up its campaign against livestock and poultry farming, claiming that a national poll indicates 82 per cent of Canadians want labels to indicate how animals and birds were raised.

The poll was conducted by Environics Research Group and the Humane Society International is using it to lobby the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to require labeling that would indicate “whether they were confined in cages, had access to the outdoors or were “able to express natural behaviours during their lives.”

"The poll comes as the Canadian Food Inspection Agency conducts a Food Labelling Modernization Initiative to address weaknesses in the current food labelling framework,” the organization says in a news release.

It has not revealed how the polling questions were phrased or whether people were provided leading information in connection with the polling.

Sayara Thurston, campaigner with Humane Society International/Canada, said “Canadians care about how farm animals are treated and want to improve animal welfare with their purchasing decisions.

“Unfortunately, current food labels do not provide consumers with enough information to make an informed choice at the grocery store.

“We . . .  hope to see clear, mandatory labels indicating how animals were treated during their lives.”

Its news release says Food manufacturers selling their products in Canada currently have no obligation to label their products with information that indicates how farm animals were raised, including whether they were confined in cages, had access to “approximately 700 million animals are raised and slaughtered for human consumption in Canada every year. The vast majority of them spend virtually their entire lives locked inside intensive, indoor housing systems, with tens of millions permanently confined to cage housing systems such as barren battery cages (laying hens) or gestation crates (breeding sows).”

The organization is not to be confused with the Humane Society of Canada. It is linked to the Humane Society of the United States which is campaigning vigorously and effectively to ban sow gestation crates and caged laying-hen housing.