Europe-Farmers Weekly Interactive-EU agrees funding package for tackling poultry diseases

The European Commission has approved a financial package of €186m (£134m) to support programmes to eradicate, control and monitor animal diseases this year.

Of the package, 4.6% is for controlling salmonella in poultry breeder flocks in 19 Member States and 11.3% is for tackling salmonella in laying hens flocks. This is three times the amount allocated for this disease last year

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Member States will also continue to carry out surveillance for avian flu in poultry and wild birds with financial assistance from the EU towards laboratory testing and wild bird sampling costs. A total of €4.3m (£3.1m) will be available from the EU budget.

US-Food Production Daily.com-General Mills counts cost of pizza recall

US-based manufactuer General Mills yesterday said a pizza recall in November knocked $20m off its Q2 operating profit.
. In November, General Mills recalled over 400,000 products, after fearing that the E. coli 0157:H7 strain found its way into pepperoni meat used on Totino and Jeno pizzas.

The possible E. coli contamination was uncovered by state and federal authorities investigating 21 E. coli-related illnesses in 10 states.

General Mills said nine of the 21 people reported having eaten Totino’s or Jeno’s pizza with pepperoni topping at some point before becoming ill, although all recovered from the illness later on.

The recall hit the Pillsbury USA ranges particularly hard, as net sales for the division fell two per cent.

As well as the E. coli scare, higher input and commodity expenses had a negative impact on margins, together swelling the cost of sales to $2.3bn, a 7.8 per cent increase from the same period in 2006.

US-Meatingplace.com-USDA issues ground beef health alert for possible salmonella

USDA has issued a public health alert due to illnesses from Salmonella Newport associated with fresh ground beef products contaminated with multi-drug resistant Salmonella that may have been ground and sold at some Safeway supermarkets.

In a statement, USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service said the meat was sold at Safeway stores in Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada and New Mexico between Sept. 19 and Nov. 5, 2007.

FSIS said it could not identify specific establishments, lots and products that would be subject to a recall. The agency said it has no reason to believe that these products are still available for sale in commerce.

USDA issued the alert after epidemiological investigations and a case control study conducted by the California Department of Public Health, Arizona Department of Health Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, determined an association between the fresh ground beef products and 38 illnesses, of which 18 were reported in California, 16 in Arizona, 18 in California, three in Nevada and one in Idaho.

This particular strain of Salmonella is resistant to many commonly prescribed drugs, which can increase the risk of hospitalization or possible treatment failure in infected individuals.