Raccoons, possums, foxes and skunks, all of which may feed on carcasses, will be captured in box traps, euthanized and tested for "trichinella spiralis" to determine if pigs escaping from the farm infected surrounding wildlife. USDA officials had considered hiring trappers, who would use painful leg-holds to capture the wildlife, until the humane society volunteered its animal control officers. For now, the farm remains under a swine quarantine that forbids pigs, dead or alive, from being...

To improve its export controls, Beijing has added food inspectors in recent years, but officials examine only a tiny fraction of exports, Chinese experts said. Food and Drug Administration announced last week that wheat gluten contaminated with melamine, an industrial chemical used in plastics and fertilizers, had been imported from the southern Chinese city of Xuzhou and ended up in dozens of pet food brands sold in stores across North America. China's chief food exports to the United...

Over the next 6 months, the use of these stocks is anticipated to moderate, boosting the year-end stocks forecast to 615 million bushels, from 595 million previously," says USDA. soybean exports to date have registered solid gains over those in the same period a year ago, but during the next several months there may be little further improvement, says USDA. Processors will likely curtail production due to slowing demand for soybean meal and soybean oil," says USDA. To help manage crop...

Corn consumers, including livestock farmers, will feel the impact as corn prices hover near $4 per bushel. Taylor pointed out that without government subsidies and mandates, there would be no commercial market for ethanol because it would cost roughly $4 to $6 per gallon at the pump. The primary driver of the rise in corn prices is the Bush administrations strategy to replace 20 percent of petroleum usage with alternative fuels, such as corn-based ethanol, within the next decade....

Department of Agriculture, is opposing the resumption of cattle exports from Canada for breeding or herd replacement purposes. Due to ongoing concerns about the effectiveness in Canada of the 10 years-old ban on feeding mammalian tissues to cows n the key firewall intended to prevent the spread of BSE, or mad cow disease n NMPF told the USDA that it would be imprudent to allow live animal traffic to resume. Due to ongoing concerns about the effectiveness in Canada of the 10 years-old ban...