China 2021 pork output leaps 29%, recoups most of production lost to swine fever
Reuter’s reported that China’s 2021 pork output jumped 29% from the previous year, recouping most of the production lost during a devastating outbreak of African swine fever two years before.
Annual output reached 52.96 million tons last year, just below the 53.4 million tons produced in 2017, the year before the hog disease began killing pigs across the world’s top pork producer. The disease had wiped out about half of breeding farms by 2019.
The recovery comes after Beijing called for an urgent resumption in pork production in mid-2019 and released subsidies to support breeders, triggering a wave of investment in new, large-scale farms. The rebound in output has come earlier than many had predicted.
The numbers from the National Bureau of Statistics were in line with expectations and point to a growing oversupply that has weighed on prices since mid-2021.
While pork production is back to “normal” levels, demand is still weak due to frequent COVID-19 outbreaks.
Farm-to-school efforts ramp up in North Dakota
According to the North Dakota Department of Agriculture, students at Fargo Public Schools will be dining on North Dakota raised and processed beef after a coordinated effort between the Independent Beef Association of North Dakota (I-BAND), the North Dakota Department of Agriculture (NDDA) and the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction (NDDPI) through the state’s Farm to School program.
The three organizations worked collaboratively to start a coordinated effort through the Farm to School program to encourage North Dakota beef producers to sell to schools. After details were worked out, Fargo Public Schools purchased an initial order of 900 pounds of North Dakota beef from local beef processer, South 40 Beef (Mott, ND).
Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring said, “School lunch programs can help local economies and the state’s economy by buying locally produced and processed foods such as beef, and that serving North Dakota food products grown and raised by our farmers and ranchers and processed by local businesses helps students learn where their food comes from.”
Interstate Meat Dist. Inc. recalls ground beef products due to possible E. Coli contamination
According to the US Dept. of Food Safety and Inspection Service, Interstate Meat Dist. Inc. is recalling approximately 28,356 pounds of ground beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli.
The raw, ground beef items were produced on Dec. 20, 2021, and the products subject to recall bear establishment number “EST. 965” inside the USDA mark of inspection or printed next to the time stamp and use or freeze by date. These items were shipped to retail locations in Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.
The issue was reported to FSIS after a retail package of ground beef was purchased and submitted to a third-party laboratory for microbiological analysis and the sample tested positive for E. coli O157:H7. FSIS conducted an assessment of the third-party laboratory’s accreditation and methodologies and determined the results were actionable.
FSIS is concerned that some product may be in consumers’ refrigerators or freezers, and urges consumers who have purchased these products not to consume them.
India to allow in imports of U.S. pork and products, U.S. officials say
Reuters reported that India has agreed to allow imports of U.S. pork and pork products, removing a longstanding barrier to U.S. agricultural trade.
Vilsack said Washington was working to ensure the U.S. pork industry could start shipping products to India as soon as possible, and that the deal marked the culmination of two decades of seeking market access for U.S. pork to India.
In 2020, the United States was the world’s third-largest pork producer and second-largest exporter, with global sales of pork and pork products valued at $7.7 billion.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met President Joe Biden in Washington last September and both leaders agreed to expand trade ties to strengthen relations between the world’s largest and richest democracies, but India is still pressing for restoration of its beneficiary status under the Generalized System of Preferences, the U.S. program that provides some tariff-free access for imports from developing countries that expired at the end of 2020.
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