Poultry to account for half of world increase in meat consumption
Global meat consumption will grow by 12 percent in the coming decade, with lower-cost poultry accounting for half of the increase, said the OECD and FAO on Thursday. Their jointly produced Agricultural Outlook report also said that aquaculture would overtake "capture fisheries" as the leading source of fish worldwide by 2024.
Big U.S. poultry company takes step to become global player
Pilgrim's Pride, the second-largest U.S. poultry processor, will buy the European poultry producer Moy Park for $1.3 billion in a deal that its chief executive says will "position Pilgrim's to become a global player," reported Agrimoney. Moy Park claims a 25-percent share of the chicken market in western Europe.
That Whole Foods advantage? Mostly marketing.
People who shop at Whole Foods expect to get higher-quality food in exchange for paying significantly higher prices. But when it comes to poultry and meat, at least, consolidation in the industry and broadly rising standards mean the same products that Whole Foods sells are increasingly available at conventional supermarket chains for a lot less money, reports Bloomberg.
Bird flu on the move in Europe and Asia, with poultry and human victims
Strains of the influenza virus that decimated Midwestern turkey and egg production in 2014 and 2015 are now wreaking havoc in poultry production in several parts of the world, including China where the virus has jumped species and infected and killed humans.
Flood count in North Carolina: 98 poultry barns, 15 hog lagoons
An environmental group, Waterkeeper Alliance, says floods from Hurricane Matthew swamped 98 barns on 27 poultry farms and 15 manure lagoons on nine hog farms in North Carolina based on reconnaissance flights over storm-hit territory. State environmental officials say their aerial observations determined one hog farm had two partial breaches, the most serious type of damage for release of animal waste from a manure lagoon.
Humane Society: Perdue leads the pack on animal-welfare
The Humane Society of the U.S. praised Perdue, the country’s fourth-largest poultry producer, for a series of animal-welfare reforms that it called “meaningful and precedent-setting.” The reforms include installing windows in poultry houses to allow more natural light; giving each bird more space; putting the birds to sleep before slaughter; and testing slower-growing breeds.
How the government spent $879 million on the bird-flu epidemic
The average cost of cleaning and disinfecting an egg farm hit by highly pathogenic avian influenza during the 2014-15 epidemic was $8 million, according to three researchers who examined the $879 million the government spent to combat the disease.
Cereal, baked goods prices flat in 2014, pork to ease in ’15
Prices for cereal, flour and bakery items will finish the year unchanged from 2013, an indirect effect of record wheat crops worldwide, according to government forecasts, and pork prices will fall by 15 percent in the new year after soaring this year. "Many items in the center aisles of grocery stores/supermarkets have seen lower than average inflation or even deflation year-over-year," said USDA in its food price report.
Bird flu in Europe is significant threat to poultry industry
The new H5N8 avian influenza confirmed in Germany, the Netherlands and Britain "poses a significant threat to the poultry sector, especially in low-resourced counties situated along the Black Sea and East Atlantic migratory routes for wild birds", said two...
Four Chinese poultry plants approved to ship to US
USDA said it certified four processing plants in China's Shandong Province to cook and ship poultry meat to U.S. customers, the latest step in a decade-old proposal.
USDA revamps poultry inspection, consumer groups cry foul
The government revamped its poultry inspection system so USDA inspectors devote more time to preventing pathogen contamination of meat while processors have more responsibliity for finding quality defects.