Enlarge photo Britain now has nearly 7,500 cases of swine flu Enlarge photo Nearly a tenth of the global number of those infected are in the UK Enlarge photo The warning from Health Secretary Andy Burnham came as Japan said it had detected the second case worldwide of a patient resistant to the anti-viral Tamiflu, widely used to treat the illness.

Burnham told parliament that by the end of August, there could be as much as 100,000 new cases a day if the current infection rate is maintained. Britain, which now has nearly 7,500 cases, is the worst-hit country in Europe.

Health officials admit they have given up trying to contain the outbreak and instead are focusing on people who are most susceptible, such as the obese or those with asthma or breathing problems.

"Cases are doubling every week, and on this trend we could see over 100,000 cases a day by the end of August, but I stress this is only a projection," Burnham told the House of Commons on Thursday.

There are hundreds of new cases being confirmed every day. So far, three people here have died from the virus.

The latest World Health Organisation figures, released on Wednesday, showed 77,201 people had been infected by swine flu, and 332 had been killed by it.

In Washington, the White House said it would hold a high-level meeting next week bringing together top government officials to prepare for the possibility of a more severe outbreak of A(H1N1) influenza.

here have been roughly 28,000 confirmed cases of swine flu in the United States and 127 people are reported to have died, the CDC said.

In Japan, the health ministry said doctors in Osaka prefecture had identified a woman who was resistant to Tamiflu -- the second such case in a week, after one found in Denmark.

The Japanese woman had since been treated with another medication, Relenza, and was recovering, Kyodo news agency reported on Thursday, citing the health ministry.

A spokeswoman for Swiss pharmaceuticals giant Roche, which makes Tamiflu, called the case "absolutely normal" and added that "0.4 percent of adults develop resistance" to Tamiflu.

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"Safe food handling is always important, but during peak grilling season in the warm summer months, there needs to be an increased awareness of safe food handling practices," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

As the mercury rises in thermometers during the summer, so do cases of food-borne illness.

This makes summer the ideal time to ‘grill’ the food safety experts from USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) about cooking and handling foods safely to avoid food-borne illness.

FSIS offers advice to consumers with questions about safe handling and preparation of meat and poultry products, including the five foods grilled most often: hamburgers, steak, chicken, hot dogs, and ribs.

 

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The refurbishment, which will include the installation of SmartSet™ Setters, SmartHatch™ Hatchers, hatchery automation and climate control systems, will raise production to 250,000 d.o.c per week by the end of this year, with plans to further increase weekly targets to 0.5 mln d.o.c. by the end of 2010. Pas Reform Academy will provide a full onsite training programme, as well as ongoing monitoring and advice to tailor Provita’s incubation programmes for peak performance.

The Provita Group entered the poultry market 6 years ago, and under the leadership of Chairman Md. Nurun Nabi Bhuiyan, both reputation and market share were soon established for Provita’s feedmill and hatchery, prompting the further development of broiler breeding farms to add to the Group’s business interests.

 

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The participants came to hear from Dr Pearse Lyons and other speakers about new technologies that can help producers overcome some of the challenges facing the agriculture industry today.

Dr Lyons began the tour in Tokyo, Japan on 15 June, challenging the audience to be leaders in the industry - not followers - as they are faced with what he calls the “sustainability crisis”. He spoke of John F. Kennedy, who once talked about being aware of a danger in a crisis, but never forgetting to recognise the opportunity. “We need leaders who can absorb the uncertainty of the current situation and bring their teams and businesses forward,” Dr Lyons said.

Representing Alltech’s R&D team, Dr Karl Dawson, Director of Worldwide Research, Alltech, brought excitement of nutrigenomics to audiences around the region, highlighting the effects nutrition can have on gene expression. “By understanding what is occurring at the gene level, we can tailor our programmes to ensure the best possible outcome for our animals. Nutrigenomics is showing tremendous potential for animal production systems - it's a whole new world!" said Dr Dawson. They explained the science behind Alltech’s latest research efforts, including the rapid development in 52 days of EconomasE. “EconomasE and what we are learning with the gene chip is redefining vitamin E nutrition.”

Dr Alison Leary, Alltech Asia-Pacific Technical Manager, explained how in the face of continuing concerns over the availability and cost of traditional ingredients corn and soya, the power of solid state fermentation is enabling feed millers and integrators to unlock the energy stored in fibre. She highlighted the ability to achieve diet flexibility and therefore assist with profitability.

 

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Iradia, Cobb Germany's distributor for the West Balkans, organised the event to mark the greatly expanded Cobb500 market share in the region — Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia — during 2009.

After Iradia's general manager Jasmina Atlic welcomed customers, Cobb Germany director James Truscott spoke about the growing worldwide success of the Cobb500.  He stressed that all producers should focus on the cost of producing chicken meat — and not necessarily achieving world record results — to achieve the best return.

Professor Hrvoje Mazija, from the Croatian veterinary faculty, presented new possibilities in vaccination procedures, and Dr Vladimir Savic from the Croatian centre for poultry production spoke about the continuing threat from mycoplasma and E coli.

Breeder manager from Bosnia, Dr Dario Bogdanovic, summarised results from the field and highlighted the Cobb500 performance in achieving average hatchability of 87.7% to 60 weeks of age.

Cobb technical service manager for Bosnia, Dr Ermin Grbic, explained the differences between ‘in season’ and ‘out of season’ flocks, concentrating on ensuring a pleasant and productive environment for the breeders. Cobb Germany's expert from Czech Republic, Lubor Skalka presented the role ventilation and environment management plays in maintaining good health status and cost-effective broiler performance.

Cobb technical service manager for Serbia, Dr Sinisa Kljajic, finished the official part of the meeting emphasising the benefits of lighting programmes and low nutrient density feed for Cobb broilers.

The symposium concluded with a lunch where attendees could share their experiences and expressed support for its continuation as an effective way of communicating performance data and successful management techniques across the industry.

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The import of chicken is regulated by an automatic approval system that has no specific limit on quantity, Chen said, according to People's Daily. Chen added that companies could decide to import chicken according to their need.

Recent reports by the Wall Street Journal stated that the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council said China had been telling US producers that import permits would not be issued for US poultry products, beginning July.

"According to our information, China's chicken imports are normal and orderly with stable prices," Reuters quoted Chen Jian as telling reporters.

 

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This fibre has a prebiotic mode of action and can be used to promote gut health in farm animals. Research shows that it can also have many benefits for monogastrics, like poultry.

Being a byproduct from the inuline (a prebiotic) production, the fibre has special nutritional characteristics. The energy value is comparable to the one from beet pulp and an inuline content of 5-17%. The balance of soluble and non soluble fractions in the product makes it a good water absorber. The soluble fraction is fermented in the colon to volatile fatty acids. This creates a low pH which in turn promotes good gut action and development. The inuline in the product promotes the growth of beneficial gut bacteria such as Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus and Bacteroides.

Innofiber used to mainly mixed in ruminant feeding. Recent research commissioned by Beneo - Animal Nutrition in Belgium showed that the product also works well in piglets, sows, poultry, horses, calves and pets. The fibres decrease constipation in the animals which creates firmer manure. It had also effect on the nitrogen metabolism. The fibres catch a large part of the nitrogen molecules in the gut, which reduced the amount of nitrogen excreted via urine and manure. The water absorbing properties of the fibres let the animals feel more "full" in the stomach. This can calm the animals down as they have not the intention to grave all day.

The recommended dosage of the fibre in animal diet lies between 2-5%. It can be sold as 6mm pellets and powder in bulk, big bags and 25kg bags.

 

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Foster Farms, which took over the shuttered Pilgrim's Pride poultry processing plant in a deal involving $50 million from the state, said on 1 July that it will not extend contracts to all chicken growers who previously sold to Pilgrim's Pride in the region, reports CNBC.

In a statement issued by the California-based company, director of marketing services, Ira Brill, said independent growers had been providing chickens to both the Farmerville plant and another now-shuttered Pilgrim's Pride plant in Clinton, Arkansas.

"As Foster Farms brings the Farmerville plant up to full capacity, it expects to extend contracts to the vast majority of Louisiana growers, but the regrettable fact is that this single plant cannot fully accommodate a grower base that was previously supplying two plants," Brill said.

Brill said the company, which planned to spend about $18 million annually on chickens, would use such factors as cost, the quality of chicken housing and distance from a feed mill and the processing plant in its decision to extend grower contracts.

Grower contracts are subject to regulation by the US Department of Agriculture.

"Foster Farms is committed to premium, locally raised poultry products and is very pleased to begin operations in Louisiana. It has a long-standing history of fairness in working with growers and other business partners," according to the statement.

 

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If Mr. Gansler were actually to read up on this subject, rather than take his lead from various activists, he would study the findings of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, which is the federal agency charged with monitoring the presence of arsenic and other substances in certain foods. 

Arsenic is a naturally occurring element that is widely found.  As the World Health Organization puts it: “Arsenic is ubiquitous, found in air, water, fuels, and marine life.  The daily human intake of arsenic contained in food is in the range 0.5–1 milligrams.”  Because trace amounts of arsenic occur widely, the FDA sets a tolerance level in foods.  For chicken, that level is 0.5 parts per million.

“The truth is that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) samples chicken among many other food for residues of arsenic and many other chemical compounds.  The sampling for 2007 showed exactly zero violations among the chickens sampled. Zero,” NCC President George Watts wrote in a letter published in today’s Washington Post.

FDA also reports findings that do not violate the tolerance level.  Some of the samples of chicken livers had findings of arsenic above the level of detection but below the tolerance level.  This is because elements such as arsenic tend to “bioaccumulate” in the liver.   You would have to eat an enormous amount of chopped liver before you would come close to having a problem, even on a theoretical basis.

As for chicken meat, which is what people normally eat, the agency found no samples with any arsenic at all.   This shows that any arsenic present was so insignificant that it was below the level of laboratory detection.

It also shows that chicken is not “laced” with arsenic, whatever Mr. Gansler might think.

Animal health products that include arsenic as one of their chemical building blocks are used in some chicken flocks by some poultry companies.  These products are effective in preventing coccidiosis in chickens, which is an infection by microscopic parasites.  The use of these products is regulated by FDA.

These products are used to keep the chickens healthy, and a withdrawal period is observed to ensure that these products are not present when the chickens are processed for food.  The fact that zero violations were found is proof that the prescribed withdrawal period is observed.

Mr. Gansler claims to have signed up a number of the other state attorneys general in his quest to ban the use of safe, effective products in poultry production.  His colleagues might want to look at the facts and take their cue from the experts rather than from an uninformed politician.

The National Chicken Council represents integrated chicken producer-processors, the companies that produce and process chickens.  Member companies of NCC account for approximately 95 percent of the chicken sold in the United States.

 

 

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Saudi-based dairy firm Almarai Co. announced on 1 July that it has reached an agreement to buy all shares in Hail Agricultural Development Co (Hadco), moving into the lucrative Saudi poultry business.

Trade Arabia reports that Almarai, which is the Gulf's largest dairy firm, said in a statement that its bid, accepted by Hadco's board, values Hadco shares at 30.1 riyals (SAR; $8.03) each, which is 3.4 per cent above close on 30 June.

For each five Hadco shares, shareholders will get one new Almarai share and SAR 2.50. This means Almarai will issue six million new shares, which represents a 5.5 per cent capital hike.

"The deal values Hadco at about SAR 949.5 million," Almarai said. Almarai initially offered SAR 22.25 to Hadco's shareholder in November.

In addition to being a key domestic player in the poultry business, Hadco produces olives, wheat, dates and grass fodder. Almarai has its own cattle farms.

The deal can only be concluded if Almarai gets to own all shares in Hadco, which means every Hadco shareholder must approve the bid at an assembly whose date has not yet been set.

A conclusive end to the bid would give the Saudi bourse its first takeover.

Analysts say the pre-eminence of short-term speculation among retail shareholders is acting as a key impediment to more mergers among listed firms.

Olayan Investment Company holds 6.2 per cent of Hadco's capital and Saleh Abdulaziz al-Rajhi and Co holds six per cent. The remainder is held by retail shareholders whose individual stakes are all less than five per cent.

Almarai has been diversifying its revenues through acquisitions and has earmarked 6 billion riyals ($1.6 billion) for investments to expand outside the Gulf region, according to Trade Arabia.

 

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