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Supreme consumer advocate visits farm
A lance for direct marketers and for the public relations of the agriculture by farm inspection and farmers markets broke the chairwoman of the Federal association of the consumer center, Professor. Edda Müller, during a visit to a farm in Brandenburg, just outside Berlin. As chairman of the Fördergemeinschaft Nachhaltige Landwirtschaft, Gerd Sonnleitner, President of the German Farmers Association (DBV), had Edda Müller at the 1. "Berlin Scheunengespräch" invited to the operation of Schmachtenhagener Agrar GmbH. The barn talks are meant to bring public figures closer to agriculture and take place in the Berlin environment.
Siegfried Mattner, managing director of the agricultural company with 80 workers and 30 trainees in 7 green occupations, explained his concept of direct marketing and public relations for agriculture and informed about the high standards in animal husbandry and food production. He realized his concept of a shopping experience and a full-range offer with 3,5 million Euro investments in the past ten years. Today applies to the region, "at the farmer's market meets." Last year, 320.000 visitors came to the farm with its Oberhaveler farmer's market, to which a dairy and butcher shop are affiliated.
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One day before the decisive meeting in the Federal Council on the adaptation of the legislation on laying hens, the Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation (BUND) in Berlin presents a report by the University of Kassel in the context of a press conference. This should deal with allegedly methodical errors and deficiencies of an investigation of the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover (THH) on the level of performance and health status in various laying hen husbandry systems.
The BUND obviously tries to challenge the well-founded scientific argumentation for a now necessary further development of the legal requirements for hen husbandry. The Bundesverband Deutsches Ei eV points out that the basis of the political discussion is that under the coordination of Prof. Dr. med. Hans-Wilhelm Windhorst, Institute for Structural Research and Planning in Agricultural Intensive Areas (ISPA), is a 250-related development with 11 contributions by 24 scientists from all over Germany. This holistic documentation including the study of the THH, in short "Dossier Laying hen husbandry", deals with the aspects of animal welfare and animal health, consumer and environmental protection as well as the economy. It points out that the German solo effort in Europe must be corrected by laying down exclusively on the ground and free range and the non-admission of "small group" and all forms of housing must be subjected to extended testing and evaluation.
Here, scientists, politicians, animal and environmentalists should strive for cooperation to find solutions and not begin to discuss on the basis of emotions or methodological errors and to devaluate each other.
This "pausing" makes it necessary to have the transition period of the 31. December 2006 on the 31. December to extend 2009.
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Farmers association and poultry industry demand unconditional examination of the alternatives
The German Farmers Association (DBV) and the Central Association of the German Poultry Industry (ZDG) stand for the abolition of conventional cages. All the more urgent is that the Federal Council on Friday (28.11.203) sets the course for a dynamic development of laying hens in terms of animal, consumer and environmental protection. This was corroborated by the presidents of the DBV, Gerd Sonnleitner, and the ZDG, Gerhard Wagner, in a joint letter to the prime ministers of the federal states in the run-up to the Federal Council meeting.
With the amendment to the Animal Welfare Ordinance, the Federal Council must allow an examination of all alternatives to caging without prejudice on a scientific basis. These include the ground and free range as well as the small group keeping in trial. Sonnleitner and Wagner further emphasized that animal welfare, consumer protection and environmental protection criteria had to be included.
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Egg producers miss market opportunity - Federal Council may not abandon animal welfare on the basis of questionable study
Through their blockade of the current laying hen regulation, the German egg producers block the entry into the markets of the future. This explained the Association for Environment and Nature Conservation Germany (BUND) at a press conference in Berlin. At the largest food discounter alone, the proportion of free range eggs has risen sharply from ten to almost forty percent over the last five years. Nevertheless, the local egg producers would leave no stone unturned to postpone the end of the animal tormenting caged.
Hubert Weiger, agricultural policy spokesman of the BUND: "If the Federal Council tomorrow on the laying hen regulation, is based on a study by the University of Hannover, which denounces species-appropriate livestock forms as animal-hostile." The study is based on data that is neither representative nor scientifically serious. Thus, the main argument for maintaining cages is obsolete: the federal states must leave the laying hen regulations as they are, otherwise they disregard their responsibility for more animal welfare, which has been assigned to them by the Federal Constitutional Court. "Chicken cages are forbidden without any ifs and buts."
The BUND has let the study analyze the supposedly negative effects of species-appropriate chicken husbandry. The Institute for Applied Farm Animal Ethology and Animal Farming of the University of Kassel comes to the conclusion that important questions of animal nutrition, heredity and rearing conditions were disregarded. In addition, the sample number in the questionnaire study was far too low to be representative, based solely on self-information of the chicken farmers and a number of other methodological errors.
BUND agricultural expert Reinhild Benning: "Even the argument of the chicken barons, they would relocate their production because of the cage ban abroad, does not pull.Now Germany imports 3,9 billions of eggs mainly from EU countries with much higher free range share than ours The transfer of production to eligible third countries will also soon be part of the EU, where conventional cages are banned from 2012, and if caged eggs are clearly labeled as such, consumers will avoid them, and Germany must take advantage of its market opportunities Putting chicken barons on a leash tomorrow: keeping cages for laying hens must be prohibited from 2007. "
The BUND study on animal welfare of husbandry systems for laying hens at [www.bund.net]
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Veterinarian examines gaps in consumer protection
Certain sheep tissues have been classified as risk material by the European Union since the BSE crisis and must be removed under official supervision after slaughter and disposed of in a dedicated landfill. The recent publication of a dissertation at Freie Universität Berlin shows that these regulations are incompletely enforced in certain areas. The veterinary dr. Mostafa Bachari asked 62 Muslim butchers who have sheep meat in their assortment. He found out that 40 stores sell lamb heads including brains, in 32 cases the animals' spinal cord was not removed and thus passed on to the consumer. Although the risk of contracting sheep meat with TSE disease is low. However, the transmission paths have not been fully explored so far. In the interests of preventive consumer protection, any possible contagion from preventive measures should be completely ruled out.
Experimentally, sheep can be infected with BSE agents. It is worrying that the feeding of animal feed of animal origin was first forbidden to 1994. In the 80 and 90 years, sheep were fed with feed containing meat and bone meal. In addition, the ban was only partially enforced by the fall of 2000, the date of the first BSE case of a cattle in Germany.
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Supplies from Holland and Denmark have risen
The foreign deliveries of piglets to the local market have increased. In the period from January to August of this year, Germany introduced a total of almost 1,9 million piglets, a good ten percent more than in the corresponding period of the previous year. In particular, imports from the Netherlands and Denmark increased.
According to the competent product bank, the Netherlands sold 2002 around 3,3 million piglets abroad. Besides Spain, Germany was one of the most important customers. By August 2003, the Dutch had already delivered some 1,05 million piglets to the German market, ten percent more than in the same period last year, despite the decline in Dutch sow stocks.
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Self-sufficiency decreased 2003
Germany relies heavily on imports to supply the population with eggs. The gap between own production and food consumption 2003 after initial projections of the ZMP has become a bit larger again. German egg production was reduced again in the year that is now coming to an end, reaching an estimated 13,2 billions, which would be 5,7 percent less than 2002.
The food consumption is estimated at 17,64 billion eggs. Five years ago, 1998, 18,45 billion eggs had been eaten in Germany. Self-sufficiency in table eggs dropped by three percentage points to 71 percent.
Although domestic egg production will be supplemented by imports, imports have shrunk this year due to avian influenza in our main supplier country, the Netherlands. The resulting gap could not be closed by imports from other countries and reduced exports. The per capita consumption of eggs should therefore have gone back in this country by three on 214 piece, 1998 had consumed every German citizen nor 225 piece.
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Deliveries to Germany increased significantly
Thailand is one of the largest poultry meat producers in the world, 2002 production amounted to 1,45 million tons. Thus, the Asian country behind the US, the EU, China and Brazil finished fifth in the world. A significant part of the production is exported; In the past year, exports of chicken meat alone amounted to 465.000 tonnes. Although the majority of chicken exports remain in Asia, deliveries to the European Union have recently become more important.
According to Thai data, exports of chicken meat in the first three quarters of 2003 increased again by a good 15 percent to 397.500 tons. Asian countries received 268.100 tonnes, about nine percent more than in the same period last year. Shipments to the EU increased by well over 28 percent to 114.400 tons. Almost 55.700 tonnes were shipped to Germany, an increase of 77 percent. The UK took 33.400 tons of Thai chicken and the Netherlands 29.700 tons, each a good two percent more than January to September 2002.
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The list of additives that our food can contain is long. As long as the possible harmful effects - not to mention effects that could only occur with the combination of different additives. A large proportion of consumers are very insecure. Nevertheless, the demand for ready meals, calorie-reduced foods and products with the longest possible shelf life is high. How do nutrition experts assess the risk potential of additives? Which legal framework conditions apply and how are the maximum amounts considered to be harmless? Are there any population groups, for example children or allergies, who are particularly at risk? Mathias Schwarz from the University of Kassel has dealt with all these questions and has published a specialist article on additives in the aid journal "Nutrition in Focus", issue of September 2003. The scientist highlights advantages and disadvantages and the current state of knowledge. His outlook gives cause for cautious optimism and points to future research needs.
A free excerpt from the journal "Nutrition in Focus" is available on the Internet at: www.aid.de, a free sample under This e-mail address is being protected from spambots To display JavaScript must be turned on!
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BSE live test developed at the Georg-August-Universität identifies risk animals
In view of the occurrence of atypical cases of BSE in very young cattle in France and Japan, which are not covered by the previous test schemes, the director of the Veterinary Institute of the University of Göttingen, Prof. Dr. med. Dr. Bertram Brenig, now called for more efficient methods of risk-identification. In the current issue of "New Food Magazine" Prof. Brenig presents a blood test for live animals developed at the Georg-August-University, which can be used to identify risk animals in younger cattle. "A simple blood sample is sufficient to detect nucleic acids in so-called microvesicles that are significantly associated with the risk of developing BSE," explains Professor Brenig of the patented US patent.
According to Prof. Brenig, the regulations in Germany and in the European Union (EU), according to which the brain of slaughtered cattle over the age of 24 or 30 months is examined for the typical prion protein deposits, are in the light of developments in Japan and France insufficient consumer protection. Here are much younger animals suffering from BSE. The previous test methods only react when the accumulation of prion protein has reached a certain amount in the brain tissue. The killing of all cattle in a cohort affected by BSE also considers Prof. Brenig to be an efficient, but not forward-looking strategy. The European Union Scientific Steering Committee has developed guidelines that require the culling of BSE cattle cohorts. A cohort is defined as all animals born or reared within 12 months before and after the BSE case.
