Reuters / A public warning in Canada about beef possibly tainted with E. coli has been updated to include additional products.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) released a list of dozens of products Sept. 30 made from beef voluntarily recalled by XL Foods, whose plant in Brooks, Alberta, was temporarily shut by the agency after contaminated beef products sickened several people.
The list ranges from ground beef to roasts and steaks, and includes products from retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Costco Wholesale Corp., and smaller chains.
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The agency is warning the public, distributors and food service establishments not to consume, sell or serve the products, since they may be contaminated with E. coli bacteria, which can cause potentially life-threatening illness.
The list can be found at: http://http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/corpaffr/.
U.S. hog herd expansion stalls as feed costs soar
chicago / reuters / The U.S. hog herd expanded in the latest quarter due to a record birth rate of pigs, but growth slowed because more pigs were slaughtered as feed costs climbed to record highs, a U.S. government report showed Sept. 28.
The quarterly hogs and pigs report from the Department of Agriculture also showed that the slaughter of sows in the June to August quarter was not as big as expected, although other USDA data showed the slaughter rate jumped in August.
Analysts are expecting a flood of pork supply in the winter due to the increased pace of hog slaughter as feed costs soared to record highs due to the worst drought in more than 50 years. But hog supplies could run thin next year as the herd shrinks.
“The surprise is we didn’t see as much breeding herd culling. It tells me there was not wholesale liquidation, but fine tuning within the industry,” said U.S. Commodities analyst Don Roose.
USDA reported the U.S. hog herd as of September 1 at 100 per cent of a year ago, or 67.472 million head. Analysts, on average, expected 67.705 million head, or 100.7 per cent of a year earlier.
The lack of significant reduction in the hog inventory speaks to the maturity of the industry, said Roose. There are not as many small and medium size producers liquidating as we had years ago, he said.
