Even as China ratcheted up its requirements for third-party verification last month, Smithfield Foods, based in Virginia and the largest hog grower and pork-producing company in the world, announced it is well positioned to meet rising demand for third-party certification that its pork exports are ractopamine-free.
A bursary awarded to Ellen Hughes, a student at Britain’s Cambridge University, is aimed at improving the management of backyard pigs in Ghana and other sub-Saharan countries.
Pigs don’t grow as well as they could when they are infected with the pig tapeworm Taenia solium Cysticercosis. Human hosts do even worse. The tapeworm is known to spread Neurocysticercosis, a major cause of epilepsy in the sub-Sahara. This so-called “acquired” epilepsy shows up more often in the developed world because of immigration.
In the last week of February, the European Commission started its crackdown on countries that are violating its directive banning sow stalls, two months after it came into effect and more than 10 years after it was passed.
Danish Crown, Europe’s largest pork-producing company, began offering farmers a bonus of 2.5 cents per kilogram of pigs, with a maximum of 8,000 pigs per facility, to build new sow barns geared to group housing. The company is also offering 1.2 cents per kilogram of pig to farmers interested in converting their existing facilities.
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According to Popular Science magazine, Texas A&M University professor Duane Kraemer is working on a pig contraceptive that can be administered to wild boars out of a feeder that uses facial recognition software and cameras to differentiate the tusked feral creatures from other less undesirable species such as raccoons.
The Public Service Alliance of Canada says “flagrant abuse and questionable sanitary practices of pigs intended for human consumption at a hog farm operated by Puratone in Manitoba” wouldn’t have occurred if the federal government hired more inspectors.
The union was referring to the Mercy For Animals video aired on CTV’s W5 in December.
The head of the Humane Society of the United States has dropped his efforts to get a seat on the board of Tyson Foods Inc., the largest pork-producing company in the world. Humane Society Chief Executive Wayne Pacelle said he was seeking the board seat in order to force Tyson to take steps to improve the treatment of animals in its supply chain.
Bacon isn’t just good sizzling in the pan or adding flavour to hamburgers. Americans love watching chefs cook it on TV as well.
A television series entitled “United States of Bacon” premiered Dec. 30 on the specialty Destination America channel. There are 12 episodes planned, with visits to Milwaukee, Kenosha Wis., and Chicago, which hosts a huge bacon festival, along with Des Moines, Seattle, San Francisco, Atlanta, Detroit, Los Angeles and Portland Oregon. The show focuses on restaurants, cafés and pubs that feature bacon specialty items on their menus.
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