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.

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New aid book published

Every third baby is born with an allergy risk. Do you know whether your child is also at risk? This booklet describes how you as a parent can take preventive measures so that the risk does not turn into an allergy, and what to do if your child has already developed an allergy. Many people know that breastfeeding is the best preventive measure in the first six months. But what happens afterwards: What is the baby allowed to eat and what is not? Which porridges at what time? How about cow's milk or is HA milk better? Here you will find answers to all questions about the nutrition of allergy-prone babies.

aid booklet "Allergy (risk) - what can my baby eat?"
64 pages, order no. 61-1482, ISBN 3-8308-0383-4, price: 2,50 EUR plus postage and packaging against invoice, (discounts from 20 issues)

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Harmful in high doses

Vitamin tablets and other dietary supplements promise health in tablet form. Many who do not have time to eat a healthy and varied diet happily and plentifully take supplements [supplementum in Latin: supplement]. The antioxidant vitamins A, C and E in particular have so far been considered to be particularly beneficial for health. Numerous studies show that people who consume a relatively large amount of fruit and vegetables are less likely to suffer from certain cancer and cardiovascular diseases. So far, the scientists had attributed this result solely to the higher vitamin intake when consuming fresh foods. Obviously that's not true. The evaluation of a total of nine large-scale intervention studies on more than 110.000 men and women in Europe and the USA showed that antioxidant vitamins in isolated form do not have any health-promoting effects. But on the contrary. As the Austrian Society for Nutrition recently reported, some of the results in the studies that were carried out over a period of three to a maximum of twelve years even indicated the dangerous effects of high-dose vitamin preparations. At the University of Southern California, for example, scientists found a connection between long-term, high-dose vitamin C intake and a thickening of the carotid artery wall. According to the current state of knowledge, vitamin preparations with high vitamin doses should be consumed with caution, warns the Austrian Nutrition Society. They could have cell-damaging effects and thus promote heart disease, cancer, liver and kidney diseases. Dietary supplements can be used in individual cases and in certain life situations, e.g. B. in pregnancy, in old age or in the presence of certain allergies, improve the nutrient supply. They cannot compensate for inadequate eating habits. Antioxidant vitamins only develop their health-promoting effects in fruit and vegetables together with minerals, trace elements, secondary plant substances and fiber. Vitamin tablets or powders cannot replace these foods.

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Sonnleitner: Simplify EU proposal on sheep and goats

In general, providing sheep and goats with individual animal identification and undertaking extensive registration measures is not necessary to improve disease prophylaxis and leads to extreme animal welfare problems. The President of the German Farmers' Association (DBV), Gerd Sonnleitner, emphasized this in a letter to Federal Agriculture Minister Renate Künast in the run-up to the Agriculture Council meeting in Brussels. The proposal made by EU Commissioner David Byrne to introduce individual animal identification and the registration of sheep and goats must be greatly simplified, demanded Sonnleitner. At the end of 2002, an amendment to the national cattle traffic regulation had already been decided, which fully fulfilled the purpose of the rapid traceability of animal movements in an epidemic control case. After all, there is no animal tourism as a risk factor in this area and animal movements can be consistently traced via entries of entries and exits in the herd register. In addition, there is no need for any rules that go beyond the nationally successfully applied labeling and registration measures, since lambs remain in the care of the farm of origin from birth to slaughter or marketing. This also applies to use in landscape and dike maintenance. Then more than 60 percent of the lambs to be slaughtered would be marketed directly from the farm and the remaining 40 percent would be brought from the farm of origin directly to the slaughterhouse.

The DBV considers the single animal identification and registration procedure only in the breeding area, which makes up about 10 percent of the sheep and goats kept in Germany, to be in need of improvement. Therefore, the DBV demands that these procedures be limited to the herd book breeding animals modernized and EU-uniform. In the opinion of the profession, according to the German example, this should also be used in herds in which a case of scrapie was found. This was the basis for genotyping the entire herd rather than culling the herd and culling only the non-resistant animals.

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According to the Federal Statistical Office, in November 2003 - according to available results from six federal states - is expected to increase the consumer price index for Germany compared with November 2002 by 1,3% (October 2003: + 1,2%).

Compared to the previous month, there is a change of - 0,2%.

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CMA advises affected German manufacturers on registration

All agri-food companies that are already exporting or planning to export to the US need to be up to 12 at the latest. December on the websites of the FDA (http://www.access.fda.gov or http://www.fda.gov/furls). Registration is mandatory for all manufacturers, their suppliers, warehouses, exporters, hauliers and importers when manufacturing, processing, packaging or storing the goods. The CMA Centrale Marketing Society of German Agricultural Economics mbH points this out to exporters in the light of the definitive implementing regulations of the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) on the US Bioterrorism Act.

In order to make the handling of exports smoother in the future, the CMA advises affected German manufacturers to use the electronic data collection of export logistics with immediate effect. When registering online, the address and contact name of the company are mainly required. In addition, a US agent must be specified who has a permanent place of business or residence in the USA and is also physically present there. The easiest way is for German manufacturers, if one of their previous importers would be available as an agent. However, the potential agent may be a relative, friend, acquaintance, lawyer, nonprofit or governmental organization - but not a message. Important notes and instructions for registration up to 12. December 2003 provides CMA affected exporters on the Internet at http://www.cma.de/exportservice.

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 Carryover of the active substance may occur if, as is customary, feeds for different animal species are produced one after the other in feed production. The active ingredient Lasalocid-Na may be used in the broiler meat production against coccidia (parasites), in laying hens but this preparation is not approved. If, after the production of Lasalocid-Na-containing feed, concentrated feed for laying hens is later produced, it is possible that active substance residues may enter the mixture. 

The feed used by the farms concerned comes from companies in three different federal states. "We therefore assume that a similar problem in other states can be suspected," says Minister of Agriculture. Till Backhaus (SPD). In discussions with the Ministry of Agriculture, the concentrated feed companies have shown that measures have been taken in the short term to eliminate potential carry-over opportunities.

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You only have to cook yourself!

End with individual notes and cut out of magazines recipe snippets in the kitchen. Following the motto "Collect, Cook and Enjoy", consumers can now create their own online cookbook with the new online recipe service of the CMA Centrale Marketing-Gesellschaft der deutschen Agrarwirtschaft mbH at www.cma.de/genuss.php. Interactive, user-friendly functions and comprehensive information on German agricultural products support the cooking-enthusiastic consumer in discovering, preparing and serving delicious cooking recipes. Here everyone can easily search for new ideas, archive his favorite recipes, plan a weekly menu and even have the shopping list created by mouse click. As varied and colorful as the range of domestic agricultural products are now also the CMA recipe pages in the consumer channel enjoyment and life.

Already planning what will be on the table next week - that's no problem with the new CMA menu planner, for example. With this module, users can choose from all categories of the CMA recipe database and receive prompt creative cooking ideas for each day of the week. If the taste did not immediately hit, the menu planner proposes a new recipe from the selected category. All ingredients of the recipe selection are automatically combined to a shopping list by mouse click. So nothing is forgotten when shopping. The user can create a very personal recipe collection by storing his favorites as "favorite recipes" separately. All favorite dishes are available at any time directly and without searching again.

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Third season of campaign motifs started

After the successful launch of the CMA campaign "Germany has GesCMAck" in August 2002 shows the CMA Centrale Marketing Society of German agriculture mbH now with a third season that farmers and consumers GesCMAck have. The campaign motives underline, supported by the statement "Best of the farmer", that the food diversity of the local agriculture makes every day enjoyment for everyone. Six of the eight new motifs show the enjoyment in the open air. Whether a bridal couple having breakfast by the lake, three friends having a picnic in a field of rape or a young farmer's wife with a glass of fresh milk - the enjoyment scenes in nature and or even in the home, for example with a bouquet of flowers from the admirer cheeky scene. The green napkin with the witty, "ambiguous" sayings makes this time again appetite for German agricultural products. A cook who does not bother with anything, or a young woman who is talking to coal types when barbequing - are a real eye-catcher and make the viewer smile sometimes.

Advertising is all about attention. Keeping consumers in a positive and positive light is the goal. For the CMA, this means: To strengthen the sympathy and trust in German agriculture with eye-catching campaigns, to profile farmers as modern, open-minded and high-performance suppliers of local food.

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Commission proposes amendment of EU rules on food contact materials

The European Commission has submitted a proposal for a Regulation (1) on materials intended to come into contact with food. It proposes, inter alia, a more up-to-date regulation of the principle that packaging should not release any constituents which may be transferred to the packaged food. The regulation creates the conditions for the future use of "active" and "intelligent" packaging materials in the EU, eg. B. Packaging that extends the shelf-life of a food or permanently monitors its condition and provides information about its freshness. Furthermore, the proposed Regulation lays down traceability requirements so that the origin of the substances used can be established at any stage of production and distribution. The proposal will now be submitted to the European Parliament and the Council for referral under the codecision procedure.

David Byrne, European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, said: "EU legislation must keep up with technological developments in food packaging. Active and intelligent packaging should be allowed in Europe provided they comply with the principles of EU food law. At the same time, the proposal extends our concept of ensuring food safety "from the producer to the final consumer" by identifying and tracing materials of whatever kind that are clearly intended to come into contact with food leaves."

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EU becomes net importer of beef

The European beef market is undergoing profound changes: not so long ago, buyer strikes and surpluses for deep worry lines among producers made the situation of 2003 seem completely different. According to the forecasting commission of the European Commission, which met in Brussels in mid-November, beef production in the European Union will be lower than consumption for the first time this year. A net production of 7,27 million tons could withstand a consumption of 7,4 million tons.

In order to meet the increased demand for beef in the Union after the BSE crisis, imports are therefore necessary. So it is not surprising that the EU's beef imports in the first seven months of this year have increased by 8,4 percent to 296.000 tons. South America was the most important supply region with around 80 percent of the import volume.

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