Researchers from the University of Glasgow’s James Watt School of Engineering are part of a new consortium which is developing the first commercial one-step rapid test for calf pneumonia. Global Access Diagnostics (GADx), a social enterprise prioritising equitable access to diagnostics and driving local manufacturing, today announced the development of RaDiCal, a one-step molecular lateral flow test to enable rapid diagnosis of pneumonia, one of the most significant diseases affecting calves. The test is being developed through a collaborative consortium, including representatives from the University of Surrey, University of Glasgow, Cardiff University, and Westpoint Farm Vets, to provide a low-cost platform to be used by veterinarians or farmers on-farm.
The test is a pioneering molecular lateral flow platform which can be linked to a mobile phone digital platform for easy interpretation of results, enabling farmers and vets to diagnose calves on-farm, and subsequently take rapid and informed action to facilitate improved disease management and support responsible antibiotic stewardship. Professor Jon Cooper is leading the University of Glasgow’s contribution to RaDiCal. For several years now, Professor Cooper and colleagues have been working to develop low-cost lateral-flow diagnostics for diseases including malaria and schistosomiasis for use in areas with limited access to healthcare. They have been field-tested in Uganda with support from local researchers and government.
Softer consumption trends in early 2023 are prompting caution in the global pork industry as it struggles to adjust to a moving target, according to Rabobank’s latest quarterly pork report. Weaker economic growth is starting to have an impact on global pork consumption. Although the worst of the inflationary effects appear to be in the past, the lagged impact on consumption is likely to be felt throughout 2023. In a slowing economy, pork remains well-positioned, as demand for the protein is historically less income-sensitive than more expensive proteins like beef and premium seafood. “Nevertheless, we see persistently high retail prices limiting consumption of all proteins. Consumers continue to conserve capital by shifting everyday purchases to lower-value protein options, switching channels, and moving to smaller pack sizes,” says Christine McCracken, senior analyst – animal protein at Rabobank. Moreover, industry optimism in 2022 after a notable upward shift in pork consumption (and prices) in some markets and expectations of a 2023 recovery of pandemic-restricted consumption in others contributed to planned supply growth in 2023. That growth will take time to curb. “Slowing supply in Europe will help balance the industry, yet high costs of production and limited consumer support will require a more conservative approach to production to stabilize margins,” McCracken said. Although a modest improvement in production costs is expected in 2023, local conditions will vary, and risk management will remain critical to success. Global feed stocks are at historically low levels, and availability remains tight. A disappointing Argentine harvest will partially offset Brazil’s record 2023 soybean and safrinha corn crops, leaving the market to focus on import needs, Black Sea grain availability, and the successful planting of a new crop in the Northern Hemisphere. “Rabobank expects the small global cushion in grain and oilseed stocks to drive additional feed cost volatility in 2023,” McCracken said.
Results from a Wageningen University & Research, Animal Breeding and Genomics (WUR-ABG) study published in Poultry Science suggest that both natural antibody (NAb) levels and resilience indicators are heritable and are under polygenic control in a brown layer line. Resilience is the capacity of an animal to be minimally affected by disturbances or to return quickly to the state it was in before exposure to the disturbance. Given that livestock are continuously exposed to environmental disturbances, for example fluctuations in temperature or pathogens, breeding (disease) resilient livestock is important for the sustainability and profitability of livestock production. Measuring general resilience of animals is not easy. However, the increasing availability of longitudinal production data allows estimating resilience indicators based on deviations observed from expected production levels. To evaluate an animal’s general disease resistance, levels of natural antibodies (NAbs) can be used as an indicator trait.
The researchers performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) to identify genomic regions influencing NAbs and resilience indicators in a purebred Rhode Island layer line. Results suggest that both resilience indicators and NAbs are heritable and under “polygenic control”, meaning that they are influenced by many genes with a small effect. These observations provide further insight in the genetic architecture underlying resilience, which, in turn, may facilitate genetic improvement for resilience in layer lines. According to the authors, there is currently no simple interpretation of any of the resilience indicators and it is important to further refine and validate them in order to verify their practical relevance and to implement them in management and breeding practices.
With consumer concerns about sustainability at all-time high, retailers and foodservice are prepping for the dawn of the climavore. Will this new brand of consumers choose chicken? This will be a key topic at the 2023 Chicken Marketing Summit, where experts will discuss how consumer habits are changing. “A climavore is someone who makes a specific food choice based on the climate impact of that food choice,” said Corey Chafin, partner, Consumer and Retail, Kearney. For example, a climavore is someone who chooses chicken over beef, not necessarily because of taste, but because chicken is generally perceived as having a lower environmental impact. “It’s someone who’s fundamentally making a food choice – not necessarily all food choices – but a single food choice based on the climate impact of that food choice,” Chafin added. “One of the most important things that chicken companies can do to connect with climavores is to focus on building trust,” explained Erika Stewart, consultant, consumer and retail, Kearney. These consumers are looking to chicken producers to push toward sustainable outcomes. They also expect producers to take the lead when it comes to education. Furthermore, they’re looking for education in the form of positive reinforcement. Stewart says that meat industry actors need to communicate with this consumer group in a way that makes them proud of their food choices.
A multidisciplinary team of scientists at the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station are testing to see if hyperspectral images can be used to detect a chicken breast defect known as “woody breast” that costs the poultry industry millions of dollars annually and decreases customer satisfaction. Dongyi Wang, assistant professor of biological and agricultural engineering, explains that hyperspectral imaging is a non-invasive sensing technique that combines a near-infrared sensor with a high-definition color camera to capture physical and chemical information.Woody breast detection with a hyperspectral camera system would take just a few seconds with a computer instead of grading by hand. “If hyperspectral imaging can be used in a poultry processing plant, that labor force could be diverted to another area.”
“Woody breast is still a safe product. It just can have a crunchy texture in some cases that is not appealing to customers, but it can be diverted for further processing into products like chicken nuggets, sausage, or chicken patties where the defect is not as noticeable,” said Casey Owens, the Novus International Professor of Poultry Science at the experiment station. Owens said one theory is that the fast-growing birds may be producing muscle faster than the blood vessels can support them, leading to muscle fiber damage and therefore increased collagen deposits. Chaitanya Kumar Reddy Pallerla, a food science graduate student working on the project, said each image with a hyperspectral camera takes up about 1 gigabyte of data. The photo is processed by a computer and correlated with a texture map indicating hardness levels in the fillet created with Owens’ previous research. Once calibrated, the system would rely on the images alone to detect woody breast. Wang said the hyperspectral camera, so far, has detected woody breast meat with about 84 percent accuracy. The goal is to accommodate high-speed sorting on a conveyor belt, or handheld portable devices, he added.
Brazilian pork export increased with 15.7% in the first quarter of 2023 in comparison to the same period last year. The country exported 274,800 tonnes this season against 237,500 tonnes between January and March of 2022. In the same period, revenue from export totaled US$ 646.3 million. This is 29.6% more than the total of the first 3 months of 2022, which totaled US$ 498.5 million.
“Rising production costs in the world, as well as the impact of health issues in several producing countries have supported the trend of increasing demand”, analyses president of the Brazilian Association of Animal Protein (ABPA) Ricardo Santin. The resurgence of African Swine Fever (ASF) in China and the Philippines should also keep Brazilian exports at levels above 100,000 tonnes a month in the coming months. China, the main destination of pork shipments, imported 109,600 tonnes between January and March. This was 25.6% more than in 2022, which totaled 87.200 tonnes. In the same period, sales to Chile also stood out with 21,300 tonnes (+96.8%), the Philippines, with 17,800 tonnes (+8), Singapore, with 15,900 tonnes (+25 .8%), and Japan, with 7200 tonnes (+36.9%).
The safety of mRNA vaccines created for protection against Covid-19 remains controversial. The accuracy and extent of testing has been questioned by many, including government officials and industry employees. Currently, some of these vaccines are approved in the US only under ‘Emergency Use Authorisation, but as of April 18, “the monovalent Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccines are no longer even authorised for use in the US.” Now, the controversy has extended to using mRNA vaccines in pigs, cows and other livestock. For example, the Texas Agriculture Commissioner recently stated that “since news of the development of mRNA vaccines and mRNA-related treatments for livestock came to our attention, we have been working towards developing a fact- and science-based assessment of the risks.”
A company called Good Ranchers that sources all its meat from US independent farms and also strongly supports more accurate meat product labelling, states that “recently, some states have worked to make the mRNA vaccines mandatory. We have never and will never source meat from any farm that uses mRNA vaccines in their animals.” Years ago, Bayer joined with Germany-based BioNTech to develop mRNA vaccines for animals. Harrisvaccines created a swine mRNA vaccine platform called Sequivity in 2015. Merck Animal Health purchased it around that time. The company describes the platform as able to “create custom [veterinary] prescription products” such as vaccines against PCV2, PCV3, and PED. It also “allows for the creation of multivalent formulations by blending RNA particles to target multiple swine pathogens in one shot.” The US government granted a conditional licence for the Sequivity “PED Vaccine, RNA Caution” product sometime before 2015. Efficacy and potency test studies were in progress then. Dr Robert Malone, the originator of mRNA technology and very much against its use in vaccines, recently stated that Sequivity, which he calls a ‘pseudo mRNA’ vaccine, “has been approved for swine by the US Department of Agriculture, is on the market now and there is no special labelling for the meat.” However, in a recent podcast, molecular biologist Dr Kevin Folta of the University of Florida’s department of horticulture describes the controversy of using mRNA vaccines in livestock as “manufactured.”
One of his guests, Dr Alison Van Eenennaam of the University of California-Davis, noted that mRNA breaks down quickly and would not survive the digestive process. However, scientists in China concluded in a 2022 study “that bovine milk-derived exosome-based-mRNA vaccine could serve as a new strategy for preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection. Meanwhile, it can also work as a new oral delivery system for mRNA.” For his part, Dr Malone recently stated that the mRNA in vaccines “has not been tested and it is not ‘normal’ mRNA like what is found in the body … ‘Pseudo’ uridine has been substituted for uridine in the mRNA. We ingest mRNA and DNA daily in our food. Our stomachs break it down. But this is not normal mRNA. So, who knows?” He also questioned the safety of other vaccine components such as lipid nano particles. “Will there be trace amounts in the meat? Will heat break it down? How much heat? Are there other chemical components in the products? We just do not know. If [testing] has been done, show me the data.”
Two European Union countries – Germany and France – have more than a third of all the dairy cows across member states. Between them, they had more than 7 million cows in 2022 out of a total of 20.1 million, according to Eurostat figures. Germany had the largest dairy cow population within the EU, recording 3.8 million animals, accounting for 17% of the total EU dairy population. France had 3.2 million animals while Poland had the third-largest national herd with just over 2 million animals.
The majority of EU countries recorded an annual decline in cow numbers in 2022, with France recording the largest loss with 91,720 (2.7%) fewer animals than in the previous year. One country to buck the trend was Austria, which recorded the largest expansion within the EU last year. The population reached 551,000 head, up 24,090 (4.6%) on 2021. At the other end of the scale, Malta continued to be the smallest milk-producing nation within the EU, with just 6,120 recorded in 2022. There are likely to be further falls in cow numbers this year. In its short-term dairy outlook, the European Commission forecasted a drop of 0.2% in milk production for 2023. With a forecasted 1% increase in slaughtering, there will be less milk available in 2023 due to a declining dairy herd.
China’s agriculture ministry has issued a three-year action plan to reduce the inclusion rates of soybean meal in animal feed in an effort to reduce the country’s dependence on soybean imports. According to a Reuters report, the new plan calls for soybean meal inclusion in animal feed to be reduced to less than 13% by 2025 from 14.5% in 2022.
The plan would “guide the feed industry to reduce the amount of soybean meal, promote the saving and consumption reduction of feed grains, and contribute to ensuring the stable and safe supply of grain and important agricultural products”, according to the document, published by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. Similar guidelines were already published in April 2021, recommending a reduction in the amount of corn and soybean meal in pig and poultry feed. The guidelines also recommended feed formulations based on the country’s regions, such as reducing corn in pig rations by at least 15% in the Northeast using rice and rice bran, and using sorghum, cassava flour, rice bran meal and barley in the southern region. China’s soybean imports in March were up 7.9% year-on-year, as Chinese buyers stocked up ahead of expected strong demand. Imports in the first three months of the year totalled 23 million tonnes, up 13.5% from a year earlier, the data showed. Much larger volumes are expected in the coming months, according to traders and analysts, but demand has proven weaker than expected.
