World meat industry news

Individuals Eat Less Turkey

  • 24 Jun 12:07

Few countries actually attempt to measure poultry consumption. In most instances the figures are not measures of the actual quantities consumed, but are estimates of the supplies available for consumption divided by estimates of the population, writes industry analyst Terry Evans. For chicken meat the global average is a little over 13 kg per person per year. Since 2000 global growth in turkey production at around 0.7 per cent per year has not kept pace the annual average increase in the population of around 1.2 per cent. Hence, in theory, the average global consumption of turkey meat has slipped a shade from 0.83kg to 0.77kg. However, this is a misleading. Read more...

Report Shows Implications of Climate Change for Food Industry

  • 24 Jun 12:01

Global warming will have profound consequences on where and how food is produced, and also lead to a reduction in the nutritional properties of some crops, experts say in a new book. All of this has policy implications for the fight against hunger and poverty and for the global food trade. "Climate Change and Food Systems" collects the findings of a group of scientists and economists who have taken stock of climate change impacts on food and agriculture at global and regional levels over the past two decades. "The growing threat of climate change to the global food supply, and the challenges it poses for food security and nutrition, requires. Read more...

China, Australia Free Trade Agreement to Benefit Agriculture

  • 23 Jun 12:38

China and Australia's trade ministers recently signed a China–Australia Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA), bringing potential benefits to farmers another step closer. Minister for Agriculture, Barnaby Joyce, said the agreement would deliver significant benefits to Australian farmers upon entry into force later this year. "The China–Australia FTA eliminates tariffs on a wide range of key agricultural and fisheries products in Australia's largest agricultural export market," Minister Joyce said. "We exported around $9 billion of agricultural products to China in 2014 at tariffs up to 30 per cent—which makes Australian farmers. Read more...

64 New Outbreaks of Foot and Mouth Reported in South Korea

  • 23 Jun 12:33

64 new outbreaks of Foot and Mouth Disease have been confirmed in South Korea. Most of the cases occurred in pigs, with 48,700 cases out of a susceptible population of 131,801. However, there was also one outbreak on a cattle farm, with two cases in a population of 33 cattle. All the. Read more...

International Meat Prices Fall as Supplies Grow

  • 22 Jun 17:43

The latest FAO food outlook shows meat prices falling as production grows and input costs fall.Meat prices have fallen in the first four months of 2015, according to the latest Food Outlook published by the FAO. This comes as global meat production is anticipated to continue expanding, at around 1.3 per cent in 2015, 4 million tonnes up on 2014. Meat production is being driven by expansion in the pig and poultry sectors. As lower input costs, for example low feed costs from good global cereal and grain harvests, have supported increasing supply, finished prices have remained proportionately low. With expansion of meat production predominantly in regions where. Read more...

Is Animal Welfare Becoming a Commercial Issue?

  • 22 Jun 17:42

Large multinational processing companies, retailers and foodservice organisations are starting to define the way that producers view animal welfare and ethical, sustainable production. More and more large and wealthy organisations are laying down the minimum standards they expect from their farmer producers. And they are dictating farming practices, often ahead of legislation, not only in the advanced farming communities but also in developing and emerging nations. One of the latest high profile organisations to join the campaign to improve welfare conditions and sustainable practices on the farms that produce the food it sells is the US retail giant,. Read more...

Economic Implications of the 2014-2015 Bird Flu

  • 19 Jun 13:53

As the infection rate of avian influenza in the US slows, the economic implications could be only just beginning, write John Newton and Todd Kuethe from the University of Illinois' Farmdoc Daily project. In a previous Farmdoc Daily article in May, we reviewed USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Update on Avian Influenza data with respect to USDA Census identified county-level poultry populations to provide perspective on the magnitude of the ongoing bird flu outbreak. At the time of that article, there were 133 confirmed cases representing 25.7 million birds affected in the US. A majority of the confirmed cases were in Upper Midwest states. Read more...

MEPs Extend Animal Cloning Ban to Feed, Food and Imports

  • 19 Jun 13:48

A draft law to ban the cloning of all farm animals, their descendants and products derived from them, including imports, in the EU was voted by the Environment and Agriculture committees yesterday (Wednesday 17 June). MEPs beefed up the European Commission’s initial proposal, citing high mortality rates at all development stages of cloning and EU citizens’ animal welfare and ethical concerns. "Due to the negative effects on animal welfare, cloning for farming purposes is rejected by a large majority of consumers. Furthermore, we do not need cloning to ensure meat supplies in the EU. Prohibiting cloning is therefore a matter of. Read more...

UK Refuses to Introduce New EU Animal Health Law

  • 19 Jun 13:46

In a surprise development at this week's European Union Farm Council meeting, the United Kingdom said it would not be signing up to a new 'Animal Health Law' agreed by Brussels and the European Parliament. The law will merge and update many scattered items of old legislation, so as to help prevent and halt new outbreaks of animal diseases such as avian flu or African swine fever and keep pace with scientific progress. "This agreement is a big step forward for the farming community. The most important achievement is that the new law will for the first time establish a clear link between animal welfare, animal health and public health. "It is also a. Read more...

Call for More Action on Global Food Security to Beat Hunger

  • 19 Jun 13:39

A United Nations’ target set in 2000 to reduce global hunger by a half by 2015 had almost been achieved.According to the State of Food Insecurity in the World report from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, the International Find for Agricultural Development and the World Food Programme, 72 countries out of the 129 being monitored had achieved the First Millennium Development Goad of “cutting by half the proportion of people, who suffer from hunger by 2015”. A total of 29 of these countries had reached the World Food Summit goal set in 1996 to “eradicate hunger in all countries, with an intermediate view to reducing. Read more...