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FSIS Hopes to Clarify 'Natural' Meat Claims
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced Sept. 11 it will solicit further public comment as the agency seeks to define the conditions under which it would permit the voluntary claim "natural" to be used in the labeling of meat and poultry products.
FSIS is seeking comments to clarify and resolve issues surrounding the "natural" claim, including how best to coordinate FSIS regulation of "natural" claims with the agricultural marketing service (AMS) voluntary "naturally raised" marketing claim standard.
The current FSIS policy states that the term "natural" may be used in the labeling of meat and poultry products provided that the product does not contain any artificial flavor or flavoring, coloring ingredients, chemical preservative, or any other artificial or synthetic ingredient and that the product is not more than minimally processed.
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U.S. Beef Opportunities in the EU
Growing volumes of U.S. beef will start to arrive in the European Union (EU) market this fall under the duty-free, high-quality beef quota agreement that was negotiated earlier this year, according to the Cattlemen's Beef Board (CBB).
The quota is part of a compromise agreement intended to address the long-running dispute over the EU's ban of beef from cattle raised with growth promotants.
Thad Lively, senior vice president of policy, planning and research for the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF), contractor for the Beef Checkoff Program, says there's very little grain-fed beef available in the European market, and that presents a huge opportunity for U.S. product — not for massive volumes, but in the highest value end of the market.
Ag Economist Expects More Rough Times Ahead
The pain of recent record losses in the U.S. cattle feeding industry will not diminish soon, but tightening supplies could lead to a modest rebound in late 2010, according to agricultural economist James Mintert.
Speaking at Kansas State University's (K-State's) Risk and Profit Conference Aug. 21, Mintert said that consumers have responded to the U.S. economic downturn by saving more and spending less. However, when consumers are saving it means that they're spending less on some foods, such as beef.
Mintert said, "Historically, beef demand has benefited from growth in the U.S. economy and a low (consumer) savings rate." In 2009 and into 2010, however, he expects weak consumer expenditures to hold back beef demand. That demand slowdown is partly responsible for the record losses realized by cattle feeders during 2008 and 2009, he said.
JBS Agrees to Purchase Stake in Pilgrim's Pride
JBS Swift announced Sept. 16 it had agreed to purchase a 64% stake in the second-largest U.S. chicken producer for $800 million in cash and paying off Pilgrim's creditors in full, according to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) "Daily Livestock Report."
According to the report, JBS will now become a direct competitor to Tyson Foods in the three largest meat categories — beef, chicken and pork. JBS is expected to be the second-largest chicken producer, the third-largest beef producer, and the third-largest pork producer in the U.S. Some reports suggest the purchase may meet some resistance from federal anti-trust officials.
MU Report: Corn Could Stay Below $4 through 2014
U.S. corn prices are expected to average $3.47 per bushel (bu.) in the 2009-2010 marketing year beginning Sept. 1, then gradually increase annually to reach $3.98 by 2014-2015, according to a University of Missouri (MU) report cited by Meatingplace.com.
In newly updated projections, MU researchers forecast U.S. soybean prices will average $9.44 per bu. in 2009-2010, fall to $9.12 in 2010-2011 then climb incrementally to average $9.74 by 2014-2015. It predicted soybean meal prices will remain below $300 per ton during the next five years, according to Meatingplace.com.
Nebraska direct steers [1,100-pound (lb.)-1,300-lb.] were expected to average $85.07 in 2009, then increase annually to reach $101.93 by 2013 before tapering off to $100.05 in 2014, according to the article.
TIME Article Sparks Heated Reaction
The fallout continued mid-September from a late August Time magazine cover story titled "Getting Real about the High Price of Cheap Food." Reaction boiled from producers, industry organizations and agricultural media who argued the article was written with blatant factual errors and skewed reporting.
The National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) says it provided a laundry list of experts and science to a Time magazine writer, but the production agriculture side was completely ignored in the cover story, Pork magazine reports.
NCBA's Daren Williams told Pork, "In 20 years, I have not seen reporting sink to this kind of low."
To read the full article, visit www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1917458,00.html.
Scientists Develop Method to Detect Live E. coli in Beef
MU food scientists have come up with a new method to detect live E. coli cells in ground beef. The researchers developed a two-step method that can distinguish between dead and living Escherichia coli O157:H7 cells.
Dead cells won't make you sick, but as few as 10 live cells can inflict a severe intestinal illness, said Azlin Mustapha, associate professor of food science in the MU College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources.
The researchers have successfully tested the technique on ground beef, chicken and eggs, Mustapha said. Testing takes about 12 hours, as opposed to older methods, which require up to two days for results.
USDA to Purchase More Pork
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Sept. 3 USDA's intention to purchase an additional $30 million in pork products in FY 2009 for federal food and nutrition assistance programs. USDA will survey potential suppliers to seek the lowest overall cost by publicly inviting bids and awarding contracts to responsible bidders. Altogether, USDA has purchased approximately $151 million in pork products for food and nutrition assistance programs this year through annual appropriation and Recovery Act funding.