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Ron DeSantis bans ‘global elite’ lab-grown meat

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has banned lab-grown meat, saying he will “save our beef” from the “global elite” and its “authoritarian plans”.

“Florida is fighting back against the global elite’s plan to force the world to eat meat grown in a petri dish or bugs,” Mr DeSantis said in a statement.

The first-in-the-nation law prohibits anyone from selling or distributing lab-grown meat in Florida.

Similar efforts are under way in Alabama, Arizona and Tennessee.

Lab-grown or “cultivated” meat was first cleared for consumption in the US in 2022.

The process of making cultivated meat involves extracting cells from an animal, which are then fed with nutrients such as proteins, sugars and fats. The end product is genetically indistinguishable from traditionally produced meat.

The World Economic Forum, an international non-governmental organisation in Switzerland, has for years touted lab-grown meat as an efficient and environmentally-friendly way to produce food, and feed a rapidly growing global population. It has also promoted insect farming as a “credible and alternative protein source“.

 

Holly Honderich | BBC News, Washington

 

Also:

FSA criticised over push to fast-track ‘lab-grown meat’ approvals in the UK

Austria, France and Italy lead charge against lab-grown meat

Florida bans lab-grown meat

UK meat exports to EU should ‘hold firm’ despite bloc’s NZ trade deal

Sheep meat, dairy and beef exports from the UK to the EU should ‘hold firm’ despite a free trade agreement between the bloc and New Zealand coming into force.

New Zealand will have improved access to the European market as part of the new NZ-EU free trade agreement (FTA).

This has caused some concern among UK farmers that the FTA could result in a deluge of NZ sheep meat entering the EU market, posing a threat to the UK export trade.

However, in new analysis published today (3 May) by AHDB, the deal should “unlikely pose a threat to UK exports”.

The EU is the UK’s largest market for sheep meat, with 79,700 tonnes of fresh and frozen product shipped in 2023 valued at £524m, the levy board notes.

It is the second largest market for New Zealand sheep meat with 54,000 tonnes of product shipped to the market last year.

The largest cut exported to the EU from the UK is fresh lamb carcases, which accounts for 84% of total UK sheep meat exports to the region.

Farming UK

Welsh dairy farms sought for AHDB programme driving positive change

Welsh dairy farms are being sought to apply to a national programme by the AHDB which seeks to drive positives changes on-farm.

Successful applicants to the Strategic Dairy Farm programme will be appointed for three years and will collaborate with experts to develop a tailored plan.

The experiences of participating farms will be shared with other farmers, enabling them to learn from the insights gained.

The programme aims to enhance business resilience and performance across the dairy industry.

Led by farmers, it showcases best practices and demonstrations to provide other producers with ideas for enhancing their own businesses.

Doreen Anderson, AHDB’s knowledge exchange manager said the objective was to empower farmers to explore new ideas and embrace change within their businesses.

She added: “This is an excellent opportunity to collaborate with local farmers and industry experts to effect positive changes on your farm.”

Farming UK

Dover border checks: Illegal sheep meat posed risk, officials say

Sheep carcasses transported to the UK without temperature controls, with blood dripping on other food such as pig parts, chicken, beef and cheese, were seized at the Port of Dover days before new controls came in, officials said.

Dover Port Health Authority (DPHA) said it seized 3.4 tonnes of illegal meat on Friday and Saturday, highlighting the importance of its work at the Kent port.

DPHA has criticised government plans to move biosecurity checks from the border to a facility at Sevington, 22 miles (35 km) inland from the port, and has called for a purpose-built, temperature-controlled facility at Dover to be used.

The Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said checks of medium and high-risk goods were now taking place, including at Sevington. Defra has not yet responded to comments by DPHA.

The seizures of illegal meat at the weekend included 54 unmarked sheep carcasses in two vehicles from Romania, DHPA said.

The vehicles had travelled for several days in unhygienic conditions and unsuitable packaging – described as incomplete and made up of domestic clingfilm, black sacks and duct tape.

To stop the potential spread of disease, the illegal meat was removed from the food supply chain at the point of entry at Dover, officials said.

It came amid increased concerns that African Swine Fever (ASF), recently found in Sweden, Italy and Germany, could spread to the UK.

DPHA has objected to government plans to cut Dover District Council’s funding for ASF checks by nearly 70%.

Tanya Gupta | BBC News, South East
Also:

Dover officials conduct hundreds of illegal meat seizures but confirm ZERO arrests

Defra confirms funding withdrawal for Dover illegal meat checks

Uncertainty remains as new border control checks come into force

EU pork imports push Serbian pig farmers back into danger zone

Local farmers in Serbia say that a surge in pork imports from European Union (EU) member states has pushed the average profitability in the country’s pig industry below the break-even point again.

The recovery trend in the Serbian pig industry did not last long, local news outlet Agropress reported. The publication said finishing pigs in Serbia are sold at only 230 dinars (US$ 2.15) per kg without VAT, down from 300 dinars (US$ 2.80) a few months ago.

“Again, we are working without profit; some farmers generate slight losses, and some are financially performing close to zero. Cereals and oilseeds are now significantly cheaper than last year, but feed is still expensive,” Bora Šuljmanac, a pig farmer, said. He added that following the downward rally on the grain market, feed prices should have dropped by at least a third. “Feed factories do not lower prices for reasons only known to them, and this makes running business difficult for us.”

Recent outbreaks of African Swine Fever (ASF) also add pressure on the industry. The disease has not yet hit industrial farms, but some operations are still hurt by quarantine restrictions.

Pork importers acted unusually at the beginning of 2024. Getting an import quota for the first quarter from the government, they rushed to fulfil it as soon as possible instead of successively importing meat throughout the quarter.

“As long as the import continues, slaughterhouses refuse to even look at the fattening pigs. And as long as the pigs are not wanted, the price goes down,” Šuljmanac said.

 

Vincent ter Beek | Pig Progress

 

Also:

Serbian poultry farmers want access to the European market

Uncertainty remains as new border control checks come into force

The Government’s new system of import checks finally comes into force today, after five delays and more than three years after we formally left the EU.

However, while proper checks on meat products that could pose a risk of diseases like African swine or foot-and-mouth under the Border Target Operating Model (BTOM) will be welcomed, huge questions over the extent to which the Government is actually able and prepared to implement the new model.

There also serious concerns over the costs associated with the new checks, and possible impact on food inflation, and disruption to traffic near border control posts, while some businesses say there is still a lack of clarity on how the checks will work.

Under the second stage of the BTOM, food, animal and plant products which present a ‘medium risk’ to biosecurity and health will now undergo identity and physical checks, which test for pests and diseases. These checks involve visual inspections and temperature readings of goods.

Additionally, ‘high risk’ goods will now be checked at the border, where before they were checked at their destination.

The Government said the checks will help identify public health issues such as salmonella, and build on existing safeguarding measures which identify diseases like African Swine Fever.

 

Alistair Driver | Pig World

 

Also:

UK minister says Brexit food checks will ‘have a light touch’

UK industry fears disruption from new post-Brexit border checks

 

US to test ground beef in states with bird-flu outbreaks in dairy cows

CHICAGO, April 29 (Reuters) – The U.S. government said on Monday it is collecting samples of ground beef at retail stores in states with outbreaks of bird flu in dairy cows for testing, but remains confident the meat supply is safe.
Federal officials are seeking to verify the safety of milk and meat after confirming the H5N1 virus in 34 dairy cattle herds in nine states since late March, and in one person in Texas.
Both the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization have said the overall public health risk is low, but is higher for those with exposure to infected animals.
Scientists believe outbreaks are more widespread in cows than officially reported based on findings of H5N1 particles in about 20% of milk samples.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Friday that preliminary results of gold-standard PCR tests showed pasteurisation killed the bird flu virus in milk, though.
Also:

Colombia becomes first country to restrict US beef due to bird flu in dairy cows

UK has self-declared zonal freedom from highly pathogenic bird flu

New measures to help protect poultry industry from bird flu

Beef & Lamb NZ chief executive steps down

The chief executive of Beef + Lamb New Zealand and the New Zealand Meat Board Sam McIvor has resigned and is taking up another leadership role in the primary sector.

In announcing his resignation Beef + Lamb New Zealand chair Kate Acland said McIvor was taking up another leadership role within the primary sector and it would be announced later on Monday.

“We are delighted that Sam has chosen to continue with a role in the agriculture sector and are confident he will continue to make a positive impact in this position,” she said.

McIvor has been chief executive for the past eight years, and with the organisation for 17 years.

He said it had been an honour to work in and lead the two organisations over two stints, which have totalled almost half his working career.

“The work B+LNZ and the NZMB do is critical to the sector and throughout my time a standout feature has been the passion, capability and hard work of the staff to deliver value for farmers. It’s been a privilege to work with and lead them.

“This work though is not possible without relationships. Whether these be in the processing and exporting sector, the research, extension and wider agribusiness community, industry good, or government, I’ve enjoyed immensely the camaraderie and challenges from addressing issues and opportunities together,” he said.

Radio New Zealand 

Also:

How might the EU-NZ trade deal impact trade? – Sheep meat

Delays in NZ lamb imports due to shipping challenges

How wild boars are threatening Italy’s prosciutto ham industry

Italy’s iconic prosciutto ham is under grave threat from burgeoning numbers of wild boar infected with swine fever, and the army should be drafted in to eradicate them, producers say.

The number of wild boar infected with African swine fever (ASF) is on the rise across Italy and threatens to have a devastating impact on one of the country’s most celebrated gastronomic products, which is worth 1.7 billion euros (£1.4bn) in consumer sales.

“There’s no time to lose,” said Stefano Fanti, the director of the Prosciutto Consortium of Parma, the city famed for its cured ham and other meat products.

“We need to step things up – we need to bring in the army against the wild boar, to increase funding for biosecurity, traps and fences and to have more hunters,” he told La Repubblica newspaper.

“We need to be clear – what is happening needs to be treated as an emergency, otherwise we won’t manage to overcome it. People are really worried about swine fever. If it passes from wild boar to our pigs, we will be forced to slaughter thousands of them and that will mean that prices for consumers will go up.”

Nick Squires | The Telegraph

Also:

Albania: Europe’s 28th country to report ASF virus

Sweden faces pork export bans after ASF discovery

How might the EU-NZ trade deal impact trade? – Sheep meat

The EU-NZ Free Trade Agreement (FTA) will enter into force on 1 May 2024. Trade of goods between the two countries was worth almost 9.1 billion euros in 2022. The agreement provides improved access into the EU market for New Zealand products.

Improved access for New Zealand goods includes:

  • 91% of NZ goods trade will enter duty free from day 1. This will rise to 97% after 7 years
  • NZ$100 million tariff savings from day one. This will rise to NZ$110 million after 7 years.
  • Increased Tariff Rate Quotas (TRQs) for beef and dairy products.

Potential impact on the EU

The sheep meat quota in the New Zealand-EU free trade agreement (NZ-EU FTA) gives New Zealand further access to the EU market. It currently has access under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) quota, which is New Zealand-specific, of 125,770 tonnes. The EU-NZ FTA allows for a further 38,000 tonnes of tariff-free access after a seven-year transition period, which is split by fresh and frozen product. This allows for total tariff-free volumes of 164,000 tonnes per year (Jan-Dec), at the end of the transition period.

In comparison the UK-NZ FTA, which can only be filled when the WTO quota hits 90% fulfilment, allows for spare capacity without the FTA being enacted. The quota size is 35,000 tonnes from Year 1 (2024), increasing to 50,000 tonnes in years 5-15 after which it becomes fully liberalised. This means that the UK will be able to act if there is a higher-than-expected volume of New Zealand lamb imports under existing access.

The fresh-frozen quotas for NZ/EU are divided 35%:65%, which reflects the rough split seen in recent years trade data. These quotas are based on volume (tonnes) exported in carcase weight equivalent (cwe), with 4,433 tonnes of fresh sheep meat and 8,233 tonnes of frozen sheep meat allowed in Year 0 (pro-rata May-December). The first full year of the trade deal, from 2025, allows 5,911 tonnes of fresh, and 10,978 tonnes of frozen sheep meat to enter the EU.

Isabelle Shohet| AHDB

 

Also:

NZ and EU trade agreement to take effect on May 1

French farmers up in arms over EU free-trade agreements

EU-NZ trade deal to make ‘an already bad situation worse’ for Irish sheep farmers

Sheep Meat Trade between the UK and Australia: Current State and Future Outlook

 

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