California hen welfare regulation challenged

Egg industry participants in 13 states have jointly filed a Supreme Court challenge to a California law requiring any eggs sold there to come from hens that have space to stretch out in their cages.

The 13 states say the law has cost consumers nationwide up to $350 million a year because of higher egg prices since it took effect in 2015.

The lawsuit argues that California's requirements violate the U.S. Constitution's interstate commerce clause and are pre-empted by federal law.

A federal appeals court panel rejected similar claims last year in a separate case brought by six states, ruling that they failed to show California's law would affect more than just individual farmers.

This lawsuit cites an economic analysis of the California law. It also asks the Supreme Court to take up the case directly instead of requiring that it first move through the lower courts.

It seems ridiculous to me that some politicians pay more attention to the welfare of hens than children.

Canada ranks poorly on food sustainability

Canada ranks poorly in a food sustainability index published by the Economist magazine in England.

It’s the second year the Economist has published the list and France has ranked best both times.

The top scored countries overall are France, Japan,

Germany, Spain, Sweden, Portugal, Italy, South

Korea and Hungary.

Canada is in second spot, behind the United Kingdom, in the second tier.

In general, those countries that place in the top quartile typically

demonstrate strong and effectively implemented

government policy on food waste and loss,

agriculture-related conservation and research, and

nutrition education, the Economist says.

                          

Meat exports to China poised to increase

The Canadian Meat Council says China could soon be buying another $100 million worth of pork and $125 million worth of beef over the next five years.

The council thanked Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency fror working hard to persuade China to allow imports of Canadian bone-in beef and fresh chilled pork and beef products.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the news during his trip to China this week.

Meat council president Chris White said “I’ve seen first-hand how valuable the economic opportunities will be for our members.”

According to a recent study by the Conference Board of Canada, commissioned by the Canadian Meat Council, “Canadian red meat product exports to China that occurred between 2010-16, valued at $500 million, support about 5,800 Canadian jobs and $160 million in government revenues on an ongoing basis.”

It has been found that “for each $100 million increase in

exports, 1,161 jobs are created across Canada.”

                  

Resistant bacteria infecting calves, people

The United States Centers for Disease Control reports an on-going outbreak of Salmonella Heidelberg infections in people who have been in contact with calves. 

What makes this worrisome is that these bacteria are resistant to most antibiotics.

Since the last update on August 2, eight more people have been reported ill from six states.

That brings the total to 54 people in 15 states.

Seventeen (35 per cent) of them have been hospitalized. None have died.

Illnesses started on dates ranging from January 27, 2015 to October 15, 2017.

Eighteen (33 per cent) of the sick people are children under the age of five.

Epidemiologic and laboratory investigations linked ill people in this outbreak to contact with calves, including dairy calves.

Some of the ill people interviewed reported that they became sick after their dairy calves became sick or died. Eighty-three per cent of the sick people were in contact with calves.

Ongoing surveillance in veterinary diagnostic laboratories showed that calves in several states continue to get sick with the outbreak strains of multidrug resistant Salmonella ‎

Information collected earlier in the outbreak indicated that most of the calves came from Wisconsin.

Whole genome sequencing has identified multiple antimicrobial resistance genes in outbreak-associated isolates from 43 ill people, 87 isolates from cattle, and 11 isolates from animal environments.

Isolates from eight ill people were resistant to amoxicillin-clavulanic acid, ampicillin, cefoxitin, ceftriaxone, streptomycin, sulfisoxazole, and tetracycline, and had reduced susceptibility to ciprofloxacin. Seven isolates were also resistant to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole.

Five were also resistant to nalidixic acid.

Three were also resistant to chloramphenicol.

All eight isolates tested were susceptible to azithromycin and meropenem.

Rabobank predicts growth for meat competitors

Rabobank is predicting that plant-based proteins imitating meats will take a bigger slice of the market over the next five years.

That’s clearly a belief that is shared by Maple Leaf Foods and Cargill, both of which have invested this year in companies that make these products.

Rabobank’s initial projection is for the alternative protein products market to grow at a compound annual growth rate of about eight percent in the European Union, to a total sales volume of between 200,000 and 250,000 tonnes per year.

Among EU members, the largest markets for alternative proteins are the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden, with fast growth expected in France and Spain.

For the North American market, Rabobank projects the compound annual growth rate will be about six percent, with a volume of between 165,000 and 200,000 tonnes.

The U.S. and Canadian growth will be most pronounced in major metropolitan areas, said Rabobank animal protein analysts Justin Sherrard and Beyhan de Jong in the report.

Growth within the market areas will vary greatly, depending on consumer awareness and concern over such factors as humane handling and perceived environmental sustainability.

Also, the availability, quality and cost of the alternatives will affect demand.

“In general, we believe the growth in the next five years across the EU is going to be more consistent than growth across the U.S. and Canada,” the report said.


Meanwhile, “we believe the growth of low-cost and private-label alternative protein products will catch up with the stronger growth rates currently being enjoyed by branded high-price point products,” the authors wrote.

Big fee increase for farm registration

The farm registration fee is going up by $30 to $225, plus HST, for next year.

The surprise move came in an announcement from Ontario Agriculture Minister Jeff Leal.

But today I got an e-mail from a media relations person in Leal's office who says Leal did not make the announcement. Hmmm. 

This is in the news release I got:


“OFA thanks Minister Leal for championing this regulation change to support Ontario’s general farm organizations,” says Keith Currie, OFA president.
There was no link to accreditations normally held after hearings by the OMAFRA Appeal Tribunal.

There were also no news releases from any of the general farm organizations indicating they were seeking an increase.

Those who benefit from the registration fees are the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario, the Ontario branch of the National Farmers Union and the Francoponie for French-language Ontario farmers.

Farmers must pay the registration fee to be eligible for benefits, including a provincial government break on property taxes.










After paying and designating the farm organization to which they want their fee directed, farmers may apply to that organization for a refund.

Another new test for meat fraud

Beef Farmers of Ontario (BFO) and the Ontario Independent Meat Processors (OIMP) have engaged Oritain, a New Zealand company specializing in scientific traceability to fight food fraud.




They hired Oritain after the University of Guelph revealed that its survey of retail meat found widespread fraud. That came out in January.

BFO says its interest started with a regional marketing initiative to enhance consumer confidence in beef. Part of that was to address the negative consequences mislabelling has on public perceptions of beef products and by extension farmers, abattoirs and the entire beef sector.

“A quick and accurate test to differentiate beef raised in Ontario from other sources, the thinking goes, would go a long way toward discouraging anyone trying to cut some corners with a branded Ontario beef product,” BFO says.

“An investigation by the CFIA landed an Ontario meat packer in court in September on charges of mislabelling. The company was fined $200,000 for offences under the Food and Drugs Act and 4,557 cases of beef trim worth $613,572 ordered disposed by rendering,” it said.




Meanwhile, researchers and the University of British Columbia announced they have a new test to detect meat fraud related to whether something other than muscle has been incorporated – eg. tripe, heart, kidney.




And another technique was announced by Australian researchers who have found a way to quickly gather samples for a DNA test which could also be used to detect whether meat ingredients in, say hamburger or sausages, is beef, pork, lamb or something else.