The member states of the European Union have now unanimously agreed that Belgium should be granted Aujesky's disease-free status. As soon as the public announcement takes place (probably at the end of October), the status is final 20 days later.
Certain batches of fenugreek seeds originating in Egypt are highly likely to be responsible for the EHEC O104:H4 outbreaks in Germany and France. The clarification was based on epidemiological investigations and the back and forth tracing of semen deliveries by a German EHEC task force set up specifically for this purpose. After outbreaks of the same pathogen also occurred in France, a European task force headed by the European Food Safety Authority EFSA took over tracing at European level. EFSA and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), as well as the German authorities, recommend not growing sprouts for personal use and not consuming sprouts or sprouts that have not been thoroughly cooked. The background is that, according to the current state of knowledge, it is possible that sprout seeds contaminated with EHEC are still in circulation.
The Belgian Konzertierungsplattform OVOCOM for companies in the feed sector is celebrating its tenth anniversary in these days. The GMP standard, which guarantees food safety at the feed level, was the inspiration for the foundation. Simultaneously, the standard forms the basis of the performance traceability system of the Belgian meat industry. Ensured that Belgium is well prepared to respond in the event of an incident quickly and efficiently.
The Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection (BMELV) has awarded the twelve best companies in the German baking, meat and dairy industries with the federal honorary prizes. The award ceremony for the top companies took place in the Meistersaal on Potsdamer Platz in Berlin. In a festive setting, Parliamentary State Secretary Dr. Gerd Müller together with the President of the DLG (German Agricultural Society), Carl-Albrecht Bartmer, the medals and certificates. The Federal Honor Award is the highest award that German companies in the food industry can achieve. The winners achieved the best overall results in the quality tests of the DLG test center for food in comparable farm sizes or comparable milk quantities.
QS Qualität und Sicherheit GmbH presented the “Report 19 - Outlook 2011” at the annual press conference on May 2010, 2011. Founded in 2001 after the BSE crisis, the QS scheme is currently in its tenth year. More than 133.000 system partners from 30 countries attest to the good participation of the entire economic chain. The market penetration for pork and poultry is around 90 percent, for beef around 70 percent - and the trend is rising.
Whether "good & cheap", "yes!" or "A&P attractive & inexpensive" - supermarkets are entering the price war with their own brands. Discounters, on the other hand, are expanding their range to include exclusive groceries. But where is the consumer best located? In which grocery chain is not only the price right, but also the service? On behalf of the news broadcaster n-tv, the German Institute for Service Quality analyzed several branches of six discounters, four supermarket chains with full range and five large hypermarkets such as real and Marktkauf.
"Sus" (Latin for pig) is a pork identification system that was developed by AMA Marketing. Here, criteria of origin, quality and / or production method can be secured and cover the entire value chain. After a “trial year”, “sus” will go into “real operation” in March 2011 and already has 33 participants right from the start. With this system, Austria is a European pioneer in pork labeling. At 40 kg per head, pork is the Austrian's preferred meat. ****
Europe's largest pork marketer Tönnies (www.toennies.de) with headquarters in Rheda-Wiedenbrück presented its new consumer information tool fTRACE at the International Green Week in Berlin.
Every two years the “Flanders' Golden Pig Award” is presented as part of the “Agriflanders” agricultural fair in the halls of Flanders Expo in Ghent, Belgium. This year the award went to the M + pigs company owned by Bart and Bénédicte Mouton-Dobbels from Lochristi.
They continue:
Even if, in this case, the dioxin was discovered through random samples, it should be noted that the labels are not clear enough. From the beginning of the processing chain, it must be described in detail what exactly was used and processed. General phrases like "fats" and "oils" are not enough, states the German Animal Welfare Association. In addition, the controls have to be expanded, this should not fail because of the costs with which comprehensive samples are often rejected and only switched to random samples.