Brothers gain control of JBS SA

Brothers Wesley and Joesley Batista have gained control of JBS SA, the world’s largest meat-packing company, in a complex deal with the Bertin family, both of them from Brazil.

JBS is the company that bought XL Foods Inc. of Brooks, Alta., when it was caught up in the largest recall of beef in Canadian history, and after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency shut down the plant to pressure the business into compliance with food-safety standards.

The Batistas, via their J&F Investimentos holding company, have gained100 percent of FB Participações, another Brazilian holding company that holds 43.97 per cent of the shares of JBS.

J&F already owned 45.2 per cent of JBS’s shares.

The Bertin family has taken 24.75 per cent of the shares of J&F Investimentos.

J&F holds far more than JBS shares. It is also the owner of enough shares to control cellulose processor Eldorado, agribusiness-focused Banco Original, dairy company Vigor and agribusiness news channel Canal Rural.

Meanwhile, JBS is making a bid to expand its empire yet again, this time bidding $55 a share for Hillshire Brands which was spun out of Sara Lee Corp. in 2012.

It is making that bid via its control of Pilgrim’s Pride, one of the largest poultry processors in the United States.

Tyson Foods, another major poultry processor in the U.S. which also has pork and beef packing plants, is also in the bidding for Hillshire.

That bidding has had a side effect of boosting the share prices for Maple Leaf Foods Inc.

Tobacco board ruled too heavy-handed

The Ontario Flue-Cured Tobacco Marketing Board was too harsh in dealing with farmer Armino Lopes, says the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food Appeal Tribunal.

The board found Lopes guilty of failing to apply stickers to bales of tobacco last year, seized and sold the tobacco for about $50,000 and refused to grant him a licence to grow tobacco this year.

The tribunal has granted him a licence to grow this year.

It noted that Lopes had an unblemished record, that he helped inspectors locate and load tobacco they seized, that he thought he only needed to apply the stickers when tobacco was ready for sale and this tobacco needed to be reworked.

The tribunal also noted that the maximum fine under the Tobacco Act is $10,000 for a first offence and Lopes actually lost $50,000 worth of tobacco in the seizure.

But the tribunal also noted that Lopes is guilty as charged by the tobacco board. Its rules say a sticker must be applied as soon as tobacco is baled.

Egg titans fined $7 million

Father Jack DeCoster, 79, and his son, Peter, 50, have agreed to pay $7 million to settle a lawsuit after eggs from their business, Quality Egg in Iowa, caused Salmonella food poisoning for at least 2,000 people.

Quality Egg recalled about 550 million eggs in 2010.

Prosecutors allege that the DeCosters offered bribes to public officials at least twice in 2010.

On April 12, they say Tony Wasmund, a former Quality Egg employee, offered a government inspector $300 if he would release detained eggs so they could be sent to market.

Wasmund, 63, of Willmar, Minn., pleaded guilty in September, 2012, to conspiring to bribe an egg inspector. His sentencing has been rescheduled four times, leading to speculation prosecutors were using his testimony against the DeCosters.

The trial information also states Quality Egg knowingly sold eggs between Jan. 1, 2006, and Aug. 12, 2010, that were mislabeled to appear fresher than they were.

Canada’s trade pact with Europe not a done deal

Canada and Europe remain with only agreement in principle on free trade and the actual finalized deal remains elusive.

There are also reports that the Europeans are busy with negotiations with the United States, so finalizing a deal with Canada has become secondary.

Cheese and beef trade are sticking points. According to a report in the Globe and Mail, it’s the administration of import quotas that remain at issue.

Canada has issued import permits to those who were importing before the Uruguay Round of world trade negotiations changed protection from quotas to tariffs.

Those who hold permits are able to import at much lower tariff rates.

The permit holders can buy at low world prices and sell in Canada at high Canadian-market prices, so the permits are valuable.

Whether the increase in low-tariff imports ought to go pro rata to existing quota holders or to somebody else is a big question for Canadians.

Dairy farmers would like to hold the import permits, but that’s almost certain to be opposed by the Europeans.

Other issues yet to be resolved include municipal and provincial government purchasing policies and the length of patents on drugs and medications.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper will be talking to European leaders while he is visiting for D-Day 70^th-anniversary celebrations and attending the G7 summit in Brussels.

Saputo will post financials Thursday

Saputo Inc., the largest dairy processor in Canada and third-largest  in the United States, will reveal its financial status on Thursday.

The Globe and Mail says in a feature article that when Saputo reveals its fourth-quarter results, it will likely tell how well the integration of its most recent acquisition, Warrnambool Cheese and Butter of Australia is going.

Saputo paid a hefty premium to out-bid competitors for the company which it hopes to use as a launching pad into the Asian markets, especially China.

Saputo is now valued at $10 billion on the stock markets; it went public in 1997 after starting as a family business and expanding from its Montreal base to a company with operations across Canada, over most of the United States and into Argentina and now Australia.

Its history is tainted by one brush with the Montreal Mafia which has been documented in a book about the Mafia. The Saputos have said the accounts are not true and that the company is free of any criminal involvements.

There are critics of Canada’s dairy industry who say supply management has prompted the company to shop elsewhere because it can’t use Canada as a launching pad into export markets.

That means jobs and potential tax revenues are being generated elsewhere.

Dairy farmers counter that supply management has steadied the industry, providing them and Saputo with a solid base on which to build for the future.

Ontario gaining on PED control

Ontario appears to have turned the corner on Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus, but the hog industry needs to remain on high biosecurity alert.

The Ontario Pork Industry Council and the Ontario Swine Health Advisory Board report that since the first outbreak at the end of January, there have been 58 farms hit by the highly-infectious virus.

But there have been no new cases since April 30.

And some farms have cleaned up and are back in business.

These include two all-in all-out nurseries, one all-on all-out finishing barn, one sow herd that has successfully eliminated Delta coronavirus via herd depopulation and one sow herd that eliminated PED virus via herd depopulation.

They say there are a number of nurseries and finisher sites working on PED elimination over the next few months.

They are applying the ARC&E protocol they have developed for the regional elimination of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) virus.

That includes maps pin-pointing the location of outbreaks so anyone nearby or with any type of contact with those places can be on high alert for an outbreak. Tight biosecurity is essential, especially to make sure no speck of manure can be carried from infected locations into hog barns.

Hog transportation remains the major concern.

The Ontario Pork Council is passing on this message from a meeting of swine veterinarians in the United States:

- PED virus is highly infective with a 10-8 dilution of mucosal scrapings able to cause infection – this means approximately one pencil eraser of diarrhea diluted in 130 cubic yards can still cause infection, making fecal-oral the principle route of infection. As well, infective PED has been found in fecal slurry after more than14 days at room temperature. That means stringent clean and disinfect protocols are essential.

- Analysis of number pigs weaned per week suggests it takes six weeks on average to return to normal production at farrowing sites

- The majority of protection to piglets is expected to come for colostrum IgA antibodies; this is a passive immunity and will quickly reduce after weaning. These antibodies do not protect against infection with PED virus.

- Proximity to an infected site and size of herd may be factors that impact the risk of PED infection.

- Control of PED is not the same as elimination of PED and not eliminating the virus can result in the risk of repeated outbreaks of clinical disease.

- PED elimination at sow sites should be done in consultation with your veterinarian. Consideration of other disease issues in the herd is essential before initiating an elimination program.

Work to date suggests the following actions are required to eliminate PED at sow sites:

- loading with replacement animals.

- herd closure for a minimum of three months (and perhaps as long as five months).

- infection of the entire herd through feedback procedures.

- strict all in all out and uni-directional flow of pigs and people.

- strict sanitation and McRebel protocols, which are posted on the OPIC website under PRRS toolkit.

- do not introduce negative replacement animals until the flow is verified negative (testing and sentinels).

Evidence suggests PED is more highly transmissible than PRRS, has a higher stability in the environment and shows lower levels of sow immunity. However, duration of clinical signs is dramatically shorter.

                       

Cute chicks sicken customers

One hundred and twenty six people who thought they had bought cute little chicks also bought poisonous Salmonella bacteria – the Infantis and Newport strains.

She can kiss her chick; don't you!

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tracked the outbreak over more than four months, leading them to Mt. Healthy Hatcheries in Ohio as “the likely source”.

Among the 126 were a 95-year-old and a one-year-old.

The first outbreak tracked by the Centers for Disease Control was Feb. 4; it was still investigating new cases on May 15.

There have been victims in 18 states from Colorado and Montana in the west to Maine in the East, from New York State in the North to Alabama and North Carolina in the South.

“Don’t kiss chicks!” writes Dr. Doug Powell who earned his doctorate in food safety communications.