European Commission Approves Regulation to Reduce Salmonella in Breeding Chickens

The European Commission’s Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health (SCFCAH) approved a proposal for a Commission Regulation implementing Regulation (EC) No 2160/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the control of salmonella and other specified food-borne zoonotic agents.

The regulation targets the reduction of the level of the five most common salmonella serotypes in breeding flocks of chickens and sets a target of no more than 1 percent of positive cases in breeding flocks of 250 birds or more by December 31, 2009. The Regulation allows only two uses of microbials: to rebuild a new flock from the hatching eggs of an infected flock, and to treat birds showing clinical signs of salmonellosis.

The regulation also restricts the use of live vaccines to control salmonella in flocks. Vaccines should only be used if there is an effective detection method to distinguish between salmonella from vaccines and wild type strains of salmonella. This new Regulation has yet to be published in the Official Journal and it is therefore hard to estimate at this point what impact this will have. The text upon which the SCFCAH reached an agreement does not contain specific requirements for imports from third countries, but we expect that further steps will be taken to address this. When the standards of this Regulation are to apply on imports, it will possibly put extra expenses on U.S. exporters of hatching eggs.
Source: USDA/FAS, Official Journal of the European Union, EC Health and Consumer Protection Directorate-General, news media U.S. Poultry Production and Exports

Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development

Thirty OECD member countries met with Brazil, China, India and South Africa for a high-level meeting of the OECD Committee for Agriculture in Paris from 14 -15 June, and called for rapid progress in the multilateral trade negotiations. The meeting underlined the need for agriculture policy reform in order to fulfil the development dimension of the ongoing WTO negotiations.

To this end, the participants stressed the need for enhanced market access and reduced trade distortions due to export competition measures and non-tariff barriers. In order for developing countries to fully benefit from agricultural trade liberalization, well targeted technical assistance would be required, according to the participants.

The meeting also called for national and multilateral assistance mechanisms to compensate potential losers and ensure that all nations profit from the global welfare gains brought about by the liberalization process.
Source: BRIDGES Weekly Trade News Digest - Vol. 9, Number 22 U.S. Agricultural Outlook Broiler exports in April totaled 470 million pounds, up 46 percent from last year. The broiler export increase during the first 4 months of 2005 (up 24 percent) is due in large part to the elimination of avian influenzabased restrictions on broiler shipments like those that held down trade in the first half of 2004. Exports to Russia in the first 4 months of 2005 totaled 426 million pounds, up 4 percent from the same period in 2004. Exports to the Ukraine totaled 54 million pounds, up 184 percent. Shipments to the Hong Kong/China market were up by 70 percent.

Turkey exports in the first 4 months of 2005 totaled 175 million pounds, up 65 percent from last year. Over the first 4 months of 2005, shipments to Mexico totaled 113 million pounds, an 81-percent increase from the same period in 2004. Overall turkey exports in 2005 are expected to total 526 million pounds, 19 percent higher than in 2004.
Source: USDA/ERS

World poultry meat production gains are expected to grow at a slower pace, with most of the increase in the developing countries. Brazil is expected to remain the largest exporter of poultry meat and Thailand should remain an important net exporter, barring further problems with AI. Projected growth in Brazil and China are expected to account for 33 percent and 10 percent, respectively, of the increase in global meat production to 2014.
Source: OECD - FAO Agricultural Outlook: 2005-2014.

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Source: USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service - 6th July 2005