Swine Health Ontario has reported a number of outbreaks of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus at barns in Lambton, Perth, Huron and Oxford Counties.
Those hit are a finishing barn in Lambton County, a farrow-to-finish farm in Oxford County, a nursery in Perth County and a finisher barn in Huron County.
Nutrition could reduce the need for medications for pigs said researchers a from Utah State University.
They have developed Aggie-Feed, a feed-based innovation designed to help improve gut health and immune function in livestock using a naturally derived antioxidant compound.
They said this approach offers a promising pathway for reducing reliance on traditional antibiotics while maintaining animal performance.
Rather than targeting pathogens directly, Aggie-Feed works by supporting the animal’s own biological systems. The feed supplement is based on an antioxidant compound that helps reduce inflammation—an underlying contributor to many digestive and health challenges in modern livestock systems.
By addressing inflammation and gut stress, researchers believe animals may be better equipped to stay healthy, convert feed efficiently, and perform consistently without the routine use of antibiotics.
A key differentiator of Aggie-Feed is how it is produced. The antioxidant compound is delivered through nutrient-enriched microalgae, allowing the supplement to be produced efficiently and at scale. This production method eliminates the need for complex purification processes and makes the technology practical for feed applications.
Microalgae are already widely used in animal nutrition, making integration into existing feeding programs a realistic option as the technology advances.
For pork producers, innovations such as Aggie-Feed are part of a shift toward preventive, nutrition-driven health strategies. Potential benefits include:
· Supporting gut health during high-stress periods such as weaning
· Reducing inflammation that can limit growth and feed efficiency
· Lowering dependency on antibiotics while maintaining herd health
· Aligning with packer, retailer, and consumer expectations around antibiotic stewardship
The research is awaiting additional validation and commercial development.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has suspended licences for two food companies for failures to comply with regulations under the Safe Foods Canada Act.
Suspensions are a last resort after companies fail to adequately respond to repeated warnings.
The two companies effectively put out of business are Divanha Foods of Mississauga and Goodfood Market of Saint-Laurent, Que.
Goodfood Market prepares meals/
Their licences may be restored if and when they come into compliance.
The United States federal government has dumped an agency that was
The federal government has dumped an agency that was established in 2023 to tackle anti-competitive behaviours in the food industry.
It was established when Joe Biden was president and inflation was running hot.
Now that Donald Trump is president many of Biden’s initiatives have been reversed.
The Agricultural Competition Partnership (ACP) provided funding and collaboration among the federal agriculture and attorneys general from 31 states to tackle anticompetitive behaviour such as price gouging, market structure barriers and conflicts of interest that can distort margins for family farms and raise consumer prices.
Through the ACP, USDA had provided about $15 million in funding and technical support to under-resourced state AG offices, enhancing their ability to collaborate on on-the-ground competition and consumer protection actions.
Politicians said this partnership helped build coordination between federal and state authorities and supported research into competition issues across grocery, processing and other agrifood markets.
In a letter to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, a group of federal politicians expressed serious concern that abandoning the ACP will worsen consolidation trends in agriculture — trends they say have “decreased margins for family farmers … increased prices for consumers … and reduced choice and quality in the marketplace”.
The group demanded clarity on USDA’s plans for competition enforcement and whether the department plans to continue working with state AGs or shift responsibility elsewhere.
The new voluntary code of practice for Canada’s grocery industry came into force Jan. 1.
It provides an avenue for complaints to be heard but there are no penalties for failures to comply with the code of conduct.
There have been complaints from suppliers for at least 60 years. Fifty years ago complaints by Ontario growers of fruits and vegetables resulted in a judicial inquiry into dozens of discounts, fees and allowances the supermarket chains imposed on suppliers.
Justice James Leach concluded that nothing illegal was taking place and he rejected calls for a body to regulate relationships in the industry.
The government also reacted by closing the office it had in place to keep watch on the grocery industry.
But complaints persisted and boiled over when Canada’s three dominant supermarket chains announced they would discount supplier’s invoices by one or two per cent, effective immediately.
That eventually led to an inquiry by the House of Commons Committee on Agriculture which recommended creation of a code of conduct and a disciplinary system and body. Federal and provincial ministers of agriculture also recommended similar action when they met to discuss concerns over the clout practiced by the big chains.
But Loblaws and Walmart stoutly resisted mandatory rules and that eventually led to the new voluntary grocery code of conduct.
I don't expect anything much will change. The dominant supermarket chains will continue to pressure suppliers, suppliers will seek to defend themselves by merging into larger corporations and alliances and it will be the medium-sized independents which will suffer the most.
There will continue to be an erosion of competition in the food industry and both ends of the supply chain - farmers and consumers - will lose.
The program is meant to help employers fill vacancies for skilled worker jobs such as in health care, construction and manufacturing.
It’s doubtful that many farmers have used the program.
One of the changes grants priority to skilled workers already in the country so they can gain permanent residency status which is a step towards Canadian citizenship.
There has been an outbreak of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus in a finisher barn in Perth County.
It is the 11th disease outbreak this month, reports Swine Health Ontario.
Swine Health Ontario reports there have been outbreaks of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus in Middlesex and Huron counties.
There have been six recalls of the company’s products, said the CFIA.
The company imports Persian foods, mainly from Iran.
There have been a multitude of recalls of pistachios from Iran.
Farmers in the United States used 16 per cent more antibiotics in 2024 than the previous year, reported the United States Food and Drug Administration.
That was a big change from the previous decade during which sales mostly held steady or declined.
The increase is worrisome because widespread use of antibiotics paves the way for bacteria resistant to antibiotics to multiply. That renders them useless in treating human infections and bacterial diseases.
Tetracyclines accounted for 69 per cent of all medically important drugs sold and their sales increased by 20 per cent in 2024 from the previous year.
Sales of Aminoglycoside increased by 37 per cent, lincosamides by 11 per cent and macrolides by one per cent. Penicillin sales declined 14 per cent.
Hog producers bought 43 per cent of the antibiotics sold in 2024, dairy and beef producers, 41 per cent, turkey producers four per cent and chicken producers oner per cent.
Cattle accounted for most cephalosporin, aminoglycoside, tetracycline and sulfonamide sales, while swine represented the majority of lincosamide and macrolide use. Most penicillins were sold for turkeys.
Steven Roach, director of the Safe and Healthy Food Program at Food Animal Concerns Trust, said increases were seen across most drug classes and species, with particularly sharp growth in poultry. He attributed the trend to a lack of firm reduction targets and continued antibiotic use without confirmed bacterial infections.
Swine Health Ontario reports there has been an outbreak of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus in a farrow-to-finish hog business in Middlesex County.
It is the third disease outbreak in Ontario this month.
A third turkey farm near Listowel has been infected with highly-pathogenic avian influenza.
They are all located close to each other and have experienced outbreaks over several days.
Dutch-based cultivated meat start-up Meatable has closed.
It made pork sausages by growing pork stems cells in vats.
Meatable was unable to raise additional funding after attracting such investors as Agronomics, Betagro, BlueYard Capital, DSM Venturing and Invest-NL, according to several media outlets.
The industry faces increasing development costs, scaling challenges and a hostile reception from lawmakers, including in several U.S. states thqt have declared bans because the technology threatens livestock and poultry farmers and processing plants.
Meatable’s closure follows the recent demise of Believer Meats and a shift in growth prospects for similar companies such as GOOD Meat and UPSIDE Foods.
Clemens has settled a pork price-fixing case for $7.75 million.
It goes to indirect institutional and commercial customers of Clemens Food Group and Clemens Family Corporation.
The lawsuit accused them of conspiring with competitors to obtain higher prices.
The Ontario government has posted proposals to set stiff fines for people who abuse police animals.
They will be fined at least $25,000 and up to $130,000 for a first offence and be sentenced to two years in prison.
For a second offence, the fine could be up to $260,000.
Maître Saladier Inc. of Quebec has recalled 6,000 pounds of quiche Lorraine la Madeleine with pork due to a failure to present the 19.8-pound boxes for import reinspection,.
The product by-passed United States Department Food Safety and Inspection Service import inspection.
The product was sent to distributors in Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, North Carolina, and Texas.
The government said it found the problem during routine import surveillance.
A federal judge has found several poultry companies guilty of phosphorous pollutiomj 20 years after Oklahoma State filed charges.
The decision came a matter of hours after Governor Kevin Stitt pleaded during a meeting of poultry farmers for leniency for them.
Colorado State’s environment protection agency said the Illinois River Watershed was polluted by the farms and processing companies and accused them of statutory public nuisance, federal common law nuisance, trespass and violations of two Oklahoma statutes tied to pollution.
The court previously found phosphorus levels in the watershed’s rivers and streams were elevated beyond natural background levels and that runoff tied to land-applied poultry waste was the principal contributor.
The court also imposed civil penalties under Oklahoma’s Environmental Quality Code based on documented soil test results exceeding 65 pounds per acre, then reduced penalties after weighing statutory factors. The court ordered Tyson Foods to pay $160,000, Cobb-Vantress $30,000, Cargill $60,000, George’s $10,000, Simmons $90,000 and Cal-Maine $70,000, plus post-judgment interest, with attorneys fees and costs to be determined later. The court said it would retain jurisdiction to enforce the judgment.
The judgment ordered a phased remediation process that included investigation, planning, implementation and monitoring. The court said it would appoint a master to oversee remediation and restrictions on land application of poultry waste and to recruit and supervise a watershed monitoring team to conduct inspections, prepare nutrient management plans and report material or repeated noncompliance.
The court set a soil test phosphorus threshold of 120 pounds per acre for land application of poultry waste generated by the defendants’ birds within the watershed, adopting a less stringent standard than the state requested.
The order also limited application rates to two tons per acre and required recent soil testing under supervision of the master or monitoring team before land application occurred.
Committees tasked with updating Canada’s Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Pigs have identified five priority welfare issues that will shape the scientific review and future revisions to the code.
Members of both the Pig Code Committee and the Scientific Committee met for the first time in person recently in Ottawa.
The five priority welfare areas are::
1. Enrichment strategies, with an emphasis on practical, on-farm application.
2. Housing and functional space, considering both quantity and quality of space.
3. Pain control, including a detailed review of specific procedures and mitigation approaches
4. Lameness, focusing on prevention, identification, and management
5. Euthanasia methods, including a review of current practices and emerging science
Each topic will undergo a comprehensive scientific review to inform future code decisions.
The committees will work through the scientific findings to:
· Identify areas where improvements may be warranted
· Evaluate current requirements and recommended practices
· Work toward consensus-based updates to the code
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has laid five charges against a Nova Scotia meat packer for failure to keep materials that might be infected with bovine spongiform encepthalopy out of the food chain.
The accused at Curtmar Farms Limited (doing business as Curtmar Meats) and Curtis Moxsom, of Stewiacke, Nova Scotia.
The nationwide recall was triggered by the findings of an investigation into a foodborne illness outbreak, but neither the CFIA nor Public Health Canada have said where and how many were sickened by E. coli.
The affected products include the 30 (2.85-kilogram) and eight (760-gram) pack pepperoni and bacon pizza snacks, with best-before dates of June 9 and 10, 2026, as well as the 30 pack (three-kilogram) Supremo Extreme pepperoni and bacon, with best-before dates between June 10 and 12, 2026, and the 4 pack (380-gram) Frank's RedHot Pepperoni and Bacon pizza pops, with a best-before date of June 14, 2026.
Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt has weighed in on a 20-year legal battle Tyson has waged against authorities protecting water quality from the chicken-processing plant and its chicken producers.
Stiff, speaking to a meeting of about 300 chicken producers, said it’s important that we hear your side of the story, and I want you to know I’m standing with you, our chicken producers, over the big trial attorneys, because this is all about money.
Stitt said “you have followed your permits, you’re protecting the environment, and if anyone breaks the rules, we’ll enforce them — but we’re not going to go back 20 years and punish an entire industry that has done things right.”
Stitt has publicly urged the Oklahoma attorney general to pursue a resolution to the case that protects water quality while preserving the livelihoods of poultry producers across eastern Oklahoma.
She has held a series of trade and federal agriculture department before being chosen to be chief agricultural negotiator in the Office of the United States Trade Representative.
She has been assistant U.S. trade representative for agricultural affairs and commodity policy in the Trump administration and now will hold the rank of ambassador as chief ag negotiator.
B. Briggs Trucking Ltd. had its animal welfare fine reduced from $13,000 to $10,000 by the Canada Agricultural Review Tribunal.
The fine was levied by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency after Briggs trucked almost 23,000 chickens in December cold to a packing plant in Edmonton.
When they were loaded the temperature was between minus 18 and 23 degrees with a windchill of approximately minus 30 to 33.
Total transport time varied from 10 to 12 hours, including loading and unloading.
Emily Crocco, tribunal chair, wrote that “given that half of the high dead-on-arrival trailers were climate-controlled and that the trailers
were carefully loaded to protect the birds from inclement weather, I conclude that it was unlikely that, based on the trailer conditions alone, the birds would suffer due to exposure to meteorological conditions during transportation.”
However, Crocco decided the birds were wet when loaded and that’s why so many died of the cold.
There has been a second outbreak of highly-pathogenic avian influenza in North Perth.
The first was five days earlier and meant the sacrifice of 56,000 turkeys.
There have been seven outbreaks in Ontario this year and 62 previous years for a total of 1,343,000 birds.
British Columbia has been hit the hardest, probably because poultry farms are clustered in the Fraser Valley.
There have been 35 this year and 241 in total resulting in the loss of more than 10 million birds.
Alberta Is next with 15 this year and a total of 98 and the loss of 2,511,000 birds.
Hanover, Neustadt, Ayton and Durham stations in West Grey, as well as firefighters from Elmwood and Minto fought the fire.
Parrish & Heimbecker is buying four inland grain elevators and the half of Fraser Grain Terminal in the Port of Vancouver that it does not own.
The other half is owned by GrainsConnect Canada which was formed in 2015 by Australia’s GrainCorp and Japan’s Zen-Noh Grain Corp.
P&H is getting four high-capacity grain elevators as well as GCC’s 50 per cent stake in Fraser Grain Terminal at the Port of Vancouver.
The deal is scheduled to close early next year and is rumoured to be worth $150 million.
Prime Minister Mark Carney reaffirmed he'll protect Canada's supply management system, as the United States signalled it's ready to fight over this country's dairy rules at the negotiating table.
CBC reported his response to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer who told members of U.S. Congress Wednesday that Washington is not prepared to extend the Canada-U.S.-Mexico agreement (CUSMA) without addressing "specific and structural issues."
In remarks made public after Greer met with lawmakers behind closed doors, President Donald Trump's point-person on trade said Americans have concerns about "dairy market access in Canada" and "Canada's exports of certain dairy products."
But to be clear, Greer also said he is not aiming to have Canada get rid of supply management for dairy farmers, just to improve U.S. access to the Canadian market and low-priced Canadian imports of milk. Ingredients.
The U.S. has complained for years that Canada is unfair in the way it hands out permits to allow a limited volume of U.S. dairy imports.
Haitians living in the United States were lured to Greeley, Colorado, to work for JBS meat-packing plant during the COVID-19 pandemic; now they have filed a class-action lawsuit alleging abuse.
The lawsuits cites injuries, discrimination and inhospitable living conditions.
Sixty were put into one house; at the Rainbow Motel up to 11 workers were put into a room with one bed, no bathroom or kitchen. One worker said in the lawsuit that it felt like being in jail. At its peak, the 17-room motel housed more than 100 Haitians, according to the lawsuit.
JBS normally has 4,000 workers at the Greeley plant, but some refused to work after COVID-19 infection spread so the company was eager to fiind willing workers. It hooked up with a recruiter who used Tik Tok to advertise to Haitians living in the United States.
JBS charged some workers weekly fees for housing and tacked on a charge for trips to the plant. Without money or transportation, the refugees had to rely on the recruiter for trips to the grocery store or restaurants. One worker said he didn’t eat for two days.
As new recruits steadily arrived, JBS needed to make room at the motel. So the company moved dozens of Haitians to a five-bedroom house nearby, charging them $70 a week. As many as 60 people were living at the house during its height, the complaint alleges. Sometimes there was no electricity or water.
During their first week of work, JBS gave the recruits a four-day orientation focused on safety and work policies. But the training sessions were only in English and Spanish, according to the lawsuit. French or Creole are the main language for many of the Haitians.
Training supervisors then falsified records on behalf of the new workers to ensure they could pass quickly and begin work as soon as possible, an accusation reported by The Denver Post and made in a separate lawsuit against JBS earlier this year.
Work at the plant, meanwhile, was exceptionally dangerous. Employees endured lacerations, amputations, severe burns and musculoskeletal injuries, the complaint alleges.
JBS also employs a number of newcomers to Canada at the beef-packing plant it runs in Alberta. It and Cargill are Canada’s dominant beef packers.
The national supply management agency for eggs has asked its supervisory body to allow it to stop setting minimum and maximum amounts for various funds it manages.
It said the market is so volatile that it feels it’s better to charge levies to meet average expenses over previous years.
The funds are for issues such as removal of surplus eggs, compensation for disease outbreaks, research and administration.
The agency also asked the National Farm Products Council to approve a special production quota for next year to keep the market supplied during outbreaks of highly-pathogenic avian influenza that force elimination of flocks.
The amount is 1,154,500 laying hens.
It also asked that the daily compensation rate for chairman Roger Pelissero be increased from $550 to $563 and for directors from
$500 to $512.:
The council approved all of the requests.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has suspended the licence of Aliments Halal Sano Inc., located in Lasalle, Quebec.
It said the company failed because it did not have adequate identification and analysis of hazards, a preventive control plan and traceability.
The company is effectively out of business until it complies with all regulations and meets all standards for food safety.
Canada and the U.K. have agreed to work together to streamline the regulation of veterinary medicines and vaccines.
The agreements was announced by Canada’s chief veterinary officer Mary Jane Ireland and the United Kingdom’s Veterinary Medicines Directorate deputy chief executive officer, Gavin Hall/
They said Canada and the U.K. will co-operate to streamline the pre-market assessment and approval process for veterinary medicines and vaccines.
This will include sharing scientific expertise and information, discussing common priorities and looking at joint reviews of veterinary products.
Choice steer prices have increased by nearly seven dollars per hundredweight in the United States and pushed beef packers into losses of $50.58 per head, reported Sterling Marketing.,
Choice steers cost $227.90 per hundredweight.
That was good news for feedlots which made an average of $272.06 per head. Earlier this month they were making $163.37 per head
The increase in cash cattle prices pushed estimated feedlot margins to an average $272.06 per head for the week, up from $109.82 per head the prior week.
Mike Harris, Minister of Natural Resources said the province will be working with municipal governments on the program.
His ministry has counted 269 oil and gas wells in Brant County, where he made the announcement with an offer of $200,000.
Of that, only 10 are active, 100 are declared inactive and information is missing on 100.
Local MPP Will Bouma said the wells are a “very real” concern to farmers because they could contaminate soil and water.
The county has purchased a drone which can detect wells emitting hydrogen-sulphide gas up to 300 metres away.
Thieves struck twice, taking tools and farm equipment from Springbank Community Garden in Cambridge.
The second time the thieves were spotted driving away on Blair Road in a pickup truck.
Taryn Jarvis, the facility co-ordinator for the Charitable Research Reserve where the gardens are located, said she hopes enough money can be raised from the community to replace the stolen items.
"They were only up there for about two minutes because we can see them go up the hill with their truck, and then drive down the hill with my trailer and the riding lawn mower in the back of it," Jarvis said of the second theft.
She said some community gardeners no longer feel safe and may not continue gardening there next year., yet she doesn’t feel anybody is at risk of harm.
"Over these past 10 years we've grown well over 35,000 lbs of organic vegetables that are harvested and delivered to the Cambridge Food Bank on the day they're picked,” she told CBC news Kitchener.
“t's the best quality produce the food bank is getting and a lot of people come out to help with that project," she said.
Jarvis said they plan to install some new security features, including a lockable barn structure.
China is rolling back tariffs on European pork from up to 65 per cent down to between five and 20 per cent.
It imposed the tariffs after Europe put a tariff on China’s electrical vehicles.
There has been no word yet about a similar 25 per cent tariff on Canadian pork imposed in March after Canada put a tariff of 100 per cent on Chinese electrical vehicles. China also hit Canada with tariffs of 76 per cent on canola seed and 100 per. Cent on canola oil, meal and peas,
China said its new and lower tariff on European pork will remain steady for five years.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has established quarantine zones in North Perth County because there have been two outbreaks of highly-pathogenic avian influenza.