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Dutch officials have identified a single case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, commonly known as “mad cow disease”, in a cow carcass, the government said Wednesday. The infected cow “did not enter the food chain and did not pose a risk to food safety,” Agriculture Minister Piet Adema said. BSE is linked to the fatal human condition Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease if contaminated meat is ingested. Dutch officials had sealed off the affected farm, whose location was […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — French farmers were ordered Friday to keep their poultry indoors due to the heightened risk of bird flu being spread by migratory birds. The order published in the French official journal follows a similar measure adopted in the Netherlands last week after a case of the highly-contagious H5 strain of bird flu was discovered on a poultry farm and 36,000 birds were slaughtered as a protective measure. “The rising infection rate […]
by Véronique DUPONT with Stuart GRAHAM in Dundee Agence France-Presse NORTH RONALDSAY (ORKNEY), United Kingdom (AFP) – On a tiny island in Scotland’s far-flung Orkneys, thousands of sheep spend the winter munching on seaweed, a unique diet that scientists say offers hope for reducing planet-warming methane emissions. Around 60 people share North Ronaldsay — an island just over 3 miles (5 kilometres) long, ringed by rocky beaches and turquoise waters off the north coast of mainland […]
by Joe JACKSON Agence France-Presse MALDON, United Kingdom (AFP) – The tranquil landscape of flat farmland and small villages in the Essex countryside in southeast England seems a world away from Britain’s escalating energy crisis. But fertiliser and carbon dioxide shortages are beginning to bite at places like Wicks Manor Farm, which rears pigs for pork and grows crops. “We’ve got some real concerns (and) quite frightening consequences to farming, as an industry throughout the […]
by Alexandros KOTTIS PAPPADES, Greece (AFP) — Stunned, Kostis Angelou wanders between the corpses of his goats, all 372 of them burnt by a fire that devoured forests on Evia island in Greece. “I’m lost,” he sighs, “I can’t take it anymore.” The goats lie on the two flanks of a hill blackened by the blaze that burnt for more than a week in the north of Greece’s second biggest island. Up there, in the […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Dozens of dead pigs mysteriously emerged on a riverbank in northern China, state media reported Monday, sparking an investigation and social media speculation about how they perished. China has seen similar scandals in the past which have exposed some of the unsavoury practices in its food industry, including the shocking 2013 incident in which thousands of dead pigs were pulled out of a Shanghai river. The country’s pig population is slowly […]
by Fran BLANDY MERU, Kenya (AFP) — As dawn breaks in central Kenya, a helicopter lifts off in a race to find roosting locusts before the sun warms their bodies and sends them on a ravenous flight through farmland. Pilot Kieran Allen begins his painstaking survey from zebra-filled plains and lush maize farms, to dramatic forested valleys and the vast arid expanses further north, his eyes scouring the landscape for signs of the massed insects. […]
BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — Germany on Thursday confirmed a first case of African swine fever, threatening to severely hit the country’s key pork market. Scientists found swine fever in a dead wild boar near the German-Polish border in the eastern state of Brandenburg, the German agricultural ministry said. “Unfortunately, the suspicion has been confirmed,” said Julia Kloeckner, minister for agriculture, after the dead animal was tested overnight. Germany is Europe’s largest producer of pork, with […]
by Marlowe HOOD Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Vast tracts of pristine rainforest on three continents went up in smoke last year, with an area roughly the size of Switzerland cut down or burned to make way for cattle and commercial crops, researchers said Tuesday. Brazil accounted for more than a third of the loss, with the Democratic Republic of Congo and Indonesia a distant second and third, Global Forest Watch said in its […]
by Sébastien RICCI BEIJING, China (AFP) — Pork prices have been sent soaring and herds devastated as African swine fever tears through China’s massive pig-farming industry, forcing the country to ramp up imports to satisfy demand — but analysts warn worse is yet to come. More than 1.1 million pigs have been killed or culled so far as authorities scramble to contain a virus that has spread to neighboring countries since the first cases emerged […]
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — McDonald’s announced a plan on Tuesday for a phased reduction of antibiotics in beef, expanding a health-oriented reform to a new meat source other than chicken. The fast-food giant described a three-stage process where it would first undertake a study of its top 10 beef sourcing markets of current antibiotic use in livestock and by 2020 establish reduction targets. Starting in 2020, McDonald’s will begin reporting progress against antibiotic […]
BEIJING, China (AFP)–More than 38,000 pigs have been culled across China, state media said Sunday, as the world’s largest pork producer scrambles to contain an outbreak of African swine fever. The disease has been discovered in five Chinese provinces, the official Xinhua news service reported, quoting statistics from the country’s ministry of agriculture. China reported its first case of the disease in August in northeast Liaoning province. Since then the disease has moved south, with […]
