“FDA: Expect More Egg Recalls”
Late last week Hillandale Farms of Iowa recalled 170-million eggs. Earlier in the week Wright County Egg of Iowa recalled 380-million eggs. Then Sunday evening it was announced that Moark LLC of Fontana, California is recalling nearly 300,000 eggs. Those eggs were said to have come from either Hillandale Farms or Wright County Egg.
Food and Drug Administration commissioner Margaret Hamburg warns there may be more recalls of eggs in the salmonella outbreak. Monday morning, Hamburg told ABC’s Good Morning America – we don’t know exactly how the contamination got into the chicken population, into the egg population, and we’re not yet fully sure the extent of the recall that will be necessary to protect consumers.
Then, speaking on NBC’s Today Show Monday Morning Hamburg said – as we move forward with the recall, we may see some additional sub-recalls over the next couple of days; maybe even weeks as we better understand the sort of network of distribution of these eggs that are potentially contaminated.
The problem with Salmonella is it can cause fever, diarrhea, vomiting and abdominal pain and sometimes more serious illness or death. Hamburg’s advice for consumers is to prepare food properly, keep the eggs refrigerated, and wash hands before and after handling eggs and cook the egg thoroughly. She said – no more runny egg yolks for mopping up with toast. Salmonella can be destroyed by cooking the eggs at 145 degrees Fahrenheit for at least 15 seconds.
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“Egg Inspection Rules Have Changed”
The Iowa egg recall comes at a time when new federal safety rules have been put into place, aimed at preventing the type of salmonella outbreak in poultry and eggs that federal authorities are now investigating. The new egg rules include such mandates as farms testing eggs and facilities for salmonella, protecting feed and water from contamination and buying chicks and young hens from suppliers that monitor for salmonella.
Until recently, the authority to inspect facilities where eggs are processed had been the responsibility of USDA. The Food and Drug Administration had previously focused on eggs after they left those facilities. Under the new rules, FDA and USDA began to share responsibility to inspect egg manufacturers.
The new rules were put into place and enforcement began on July 9th of this year. The emergency coordinator for FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Sherri McGarry, says if the new rules had been in place earlier, the outbreak – could have been prevented.
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“U.S. Faces Increased Export Opportunities”
The National Corn Growers Association reports that as the Russian drought drags on and the resultant export ban remains in place, international grain buyers are looking to the United States for corn to help meet ongoing demands. Historically, Russia exports between 6-7 million tons from August through December. Because of the current ban, this figure will need to be filled by other sources.
While the world’s supply will be able to cover the deficient, the more difficult problem will be if there is no rain in the next six weeks. This will inhibit Russia from planting its winter wheat crop, affecting its ability to export. At the same time Ukraine’s president has informally announced that major grains such as wheat, barley and corn will need quotas imposed for export beginning August 20.
U.S. Grains Council Regional Director in the Middle East Joe O’Brien says – these recent developments in Russia and Ukraine could help U.S. market share in other countries as well, such as Saudi Arabia, and help increase the exports of U.S. grains to the Middle East.
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“Vilsack Encouraging HealthierUS Participation”
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is encouraging schools throughout the country to participate in the HealthierUS School Challenge, an initiative program that helps improve the health and nutrition of children. USDA created the program to recognize schools that maintain healthy school environments by improving the quality of meals and increasing physical activity and nutrition education. The HUSSC is also a key component of First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign to end childhood obesity within a generation.
Vilsack says – the Challenge encourages schools to take voluntary extra steps toward improving the nutrition of all foods offered in schools, enhancing the opportunity for children to be physically active during the school day and providing nutrition education to help them learn how to make healthy lifestyle decisions. The Secretary notes – there are also steps that moms and dads and others in the community can take to improve the health and nutrition of the meals their kids eat each day.
According to an Institute of Medicine Report released in October 2009, school-age children eat too many discretionary calories, too few fruits and vegetables, particularly dark green and dark orange fruits and vegetables, too few whole grains and low-fat dairy products and too many solid fats and sugars.
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“Public Forum-News Conference Ahead of USDA/DOJ Workshop”
A public forum to Save Rural America and Family Ranching will be held this Thursday evening, prior to Friday’s U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Justice Hearing on Competition in the Livestock Industry. The event, to be held at the Marriott Hotel in Fort Collins, Colorado with a dinner at 5:00 p.m. mountain time followed by the public forum at 7:00 p.m. R-CALF USA says the forum will focus on how corporate consolidation has led to an imbalance of power in the food system, with unfair practices putting farmers and ranchers, workers and consumers at a disadvantage and why government action, like the proposed GIPSA rule, is long overdue.
At about the same time the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the National Pork Producers Council will host a news briefing and panel discussion focusing on USDA’s Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration’s proposed rule on livestock marketing. Two panels of experts will be available to discuss the impact of the proposed GIPSA Rule. This event will be held at the Hilton in Fort Collins, Colorado from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. mountain time. A pork and beef barbeque will be provided.
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“Key Speaker Announced for AFBF Annual Meeting”
Mike Rowe, the creator and executive producer of Discovery Channel’s Emmy®-nominated series Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe, will deliver the keynote address to the American Farm Bureau Federation’s 92nd annual meeting on January 10, 2011, in Atlanta, Georgia. The 4-day annual Farm Bureau meeting begins January 9, 2011.
A champion of farmers and ranchers and other hard-working Americans, Rowe has spent years traveling the country, working as an apprentice on more than 250 jobs that most people would go out of their way to avoid. Rowe knows how to get his hands dirty and has worked in just about every industry, including many agriculture jobs.
AFBF President Bob Stallman says Rowe – like farmers and ranchers, is not afraid to roll-up his shirt sleeves and get his hands dirty. Mike understands that most things that contribute to our standard of living—such as abundant food—are the result of someone else’s hard work, dedication and skill, not magic.
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“Feeding Fish Soybean Based Feed Developing Market
Joe Meyer, Director and United Soybean Board Soybean farmer from Williamsburg, Indiana believes farm-raised aquaculture represents another growing market for U.S. soybean farmers. Meyer says, – currently, the greatest demand rests in the China freshwater sector, which produces 63 percent of global aquaculture. Estimates show the Chinese aquaculture industry uses up to 6.5 million metric tons of soy to feed fish. Meyer says that is the equivalent of 239-million bushels of soybeans – more than all of the soybeans produced in my home state of Indiana last year.
Global demand for seafood continues to increase, with the United States consuming about 15-billion dollars worth of seafood annually. At the same time, the wild catch of fish in our lakes and seas continues to level off or decrease. Meyer points out – this means less fish meal to use as fish feed. Therefore, a promising opportunity for including soy in aquaculture feed exists now and in the future.
While the bulk of the soy-in-aquaculture efforts come in international markets, the use of soy in fish farming represents a potentially growing market in the United States as well. The soybean checkoff reports – in 2008, domestic aquaculture used about 210-thousand metric tons of soybean meal or over 7.7 million bushels of soybeans. Meyer concludes, – while this represents only 1 percent of domestic soybean meal use, it does represent an exciting new and growing market.
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“Research: Suction Aeration Advantages Sited”
Grain farmers preparing for fall harvest should review their gain handling system and grain drying procedures. A major way to keep grain dry and healthy is aeration. Blowing ambient air through grain storage bins has been used for decades to maintain the quality of grain by keeping it cool, as well as to manage stored insect pests. Pressure aeration uses fans to push ambient air from the bottom of the bin upwards, while suction aeration involves reversing the fans to pull air from the top downward. But, the question of which is better has not been answered.
To find out, USDA entomologist Frank Arthur and agricultural engineer Mark Casada experimented with storage bins whose grain masses were cooled with either pressure aeration or suction aeration. The researchers conducted two eight-month trials using six metal storage bins with perforated floors and grain storage capacities of 1,250 bushels of wheat. Stored insects examined in the study were rusty grain beetles, foreign grain beetles, hairy fungus beetles, red flour beetles, saw-toothed grain beetles, rice weevils and lesser grain borers.
The data showed that, during the summer, suction aeration cooled the stored wheat’s upper portion, or “surface zone,” more quickly than pressure aeration, and the difference correlated to fewer insect pests. The researchers believe one expected benefit to using suction aeration could be reduced reliance on the fumigant phosphine to control insects. Larger-scale studies are needed.
