THE TRUTH ABOUT ‘BRITISH’ PORK … THAT COMES ALL THE WAY FROM A POLISH FACTORY FARM (UK)

12:29 PM on 17th January 2009

by Danny Penman

PUBLISHED BY ‘THE DAILY MAIL’ (UK)

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CHILE DEVE VOLTAR A COMPRAR CARNE SUÍNA DE SC – EXPORTAÇÕES PARA O PAÍS SUL-AMERICANOS ESTAVAM SUSPENSAS DESDE 2005 (Brazil/Chile)

14/01/2009 – 01h30min

DIÁRIO CATARINENSE

PUBLISHED BY ‘A NOTÍCIA’ (Brazil)

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FIRST PORK, NOW TAINTED BEEF IN IRELAND – DIOXINS IN CATTLE DOUBLE OR TRIPLE LEGAL LIMITS; MEDICAL CHIEF SAYS NO HEALTH RISK

DUBLIN, Ireland, Dec. 9, 2008

Associated Press

PUBLISHED BY ‘CBS NEWS’ (USA)

(AP) Ireland announced Tuesday it has found illegal levels of dioxins – the chemicals that are devastating its pork industry – in cattle, but insisted its beef was safe to eat.

Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith said Ireland has decided not to recall any of its beef products at home or abroad because, unlike the contamination of pork products, the level and extent of dioxin found so far in cattle is much lower.

Smith said dioxin tests had come back positive for three farms out of 11 tested so far, while results were pending for 34 more farms that received dioxin-contaminated feed. He described the three farms that failed as “technically noncompliant, but not at a level that would pose any public health concern.”

Smith said the government would prevent any cattle at those three farms from being slaughtered and put into the food chain until they could be individually tested for dioxin levels. Until then, he said, no meat from those farms would be permitted to enter the market.

Alan O’Reilly, deputy chief executive of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, said dioxin levels detected in cattle from the three farms were two to three times over legal limits. He contrasted that with last week’s finding of dioxin levels in pigs that were 80 to 200 times over those limits.

“There’s a huge difference,” O’Reilly said.

Ireland’s chief medical officer, Dr. Tony Holohan, said the levels of dioxins detected in Irish beef and pork would not pose a health risk to anyone who ate either meat.

“To all intents and purposes this is not a public health issue. … We do not expect to see symptoms as a result of this,” Holohan said.

Nonetheless, the latest findings threatened to undermine Ireland’s annual $2 billion industry in beef, Ireland’s primary agricultural export – more than three times the value of Ireland’s gridlocked pork industry.

Ireland’s major pigmeat processors have been refusing to start slaughtering an estimated 100,000 pigs at nine farms where illegally high levels of dioxins have been confirmed. The processors have already laid off 1,400 workers and say they won’t budge until the government reimburses their costs.

© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

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PUBLISHED BY ‘CBS NEWS’ (USA)

CANADA HAULS US TO WTO OVER COUNTRY-OF-ORIGIN LABELING FOR BEEF, PORK

Last update: December 2, 2008 – 5:58 AM

by Bradley S. Klapper – Associated Press

PUBLISHED BY ‘THE STAR TRIBUNE’ (USA)

GENEVA – Canada filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization on Tuesday over a new U.S. law that requires retailers to provide country-of-origin labeling for fresh beef and pork, officials said.

The Canadian government said it was concerned the U.S. rules were discriminating against Canadian agricultural exporters, who have lobbied hard for a legal challenge at the WTO.

“We believe that the country-of-origin legislation is creating undue trade restrictions to the detriment of Canadian exporters,” Canadian Trade Minister Stockwell Day said in a statement.

The WTO confirmed receipt of Canada’s complaint.

Canadian farm groups say a growing number of meat plants in the U.S. are refusing to accept Canadian cattle and hogs for processing since the Country Of Origin Labeling (COOL) law went into effect on Oct. 1.

Under country of origin labeling, Canadian cattle and pigs must be segregated in U.S. feedlots and packing plants, prompting some firms to only deal with American livestock. Canadian animals are also required to have more documentation about where they come from and, in the case of cattle, must have tags that indicate they are free of mad cow disease.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative in Washington could not immediately comment.

Ottawa’s filing at the Geneva-based trade referee initiates a two-month consultation period between the North American neighbors. If they fail to reach a settlement, Canada can ask the WTO for a formal investigation. Such trade disputes can result in punitive sanctions, but usually after years of litigation.

Canada and the U.S. are the world’s biggest commercial partners, but have battled for years over trade issues involving beef, corn, dairy and wheat. In 2006 the two countries signed an accord on softwood lumber, a key component in home-building, ending a decades-long dispute that once fueled talk of an outright trade war.

“We are committed to a respectful working relationship with our American neighbors,” Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said, “but have always made it clear that these new regulations must not discriminate against Canadian producers.”

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BRAZIL’S ROBUST ECONOMY PROPELS QUEST TO BE GLOBAL PLAYER

Published: Nov 11, 2008 05:54 PM Modified: Nov 11, 2008 05:54 PM

by Tyler Bridges, McClatchy Newspapers

BRASILIA, Brazil – For years, critics said that Brazil was long on potential and short on performance. Not anymore. This massive country has become one of the world’s biggest democracies and an economic powerhouse.

Now Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva wants his nation to have a bigger role in world affairs. He’ll press his case when leaders from the major industrial and developing nations convene Saturday at the G-20 summit in Washington.

Before the meeting, Lula has called on wealthier nations to overhaul the global finance system and give a bigger say to developing countries such as Brazil.

“We need new, more inclusive governance, and Brazil is ready to face up to its responsibilities,” Lula said last Saturday at a meeting of finance ministers and central bank presidents in Sao Paulo. “It is time for a pact between governments to build a new financial architecture for the world.”

In the short term, Brazil wants the smaller G-7 group of industrialized countries to expand to include Brazil and other developing countries, said Amaury de Souza, a political analyst in Rio de Janeiro.

“We want a permanent G-14,” de Souza said, saying that Russia, China, Mexico and India should be among the additions.

Brazil also wants developing nations to have a greater voice at the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the United Nations.

“Global power structures were frozen in the aftermath of World War II,” de Souza added. “Excessive latitude of action was given to European countries.”

Only a few years ago, Brazil’s president wouldn’t have dared to demand a greater role. Hyperinflation, a roller-coaster economy and political instability plagued Brazil in the 1990s.

The country’s stock market plummeted after Lula was elected in 2002. Investors feared the longtime leftist leader, a former auto factory worker who hadn’t graduated from high school.

However, Lula has promoted business investment while putting more money into the hands of the poor. The economy has boomed for three years, propelling millions of Brazilians into the middle class.

With the world’s 10th biggest economy, Brazil has surpassed the United States as the biggest producer of iron ore and coffee. It’s become the world’s biggest exporter of beef, poultry, biofuels and orange juice concentrate, and is rapidly gaining in soybeans, corn and pork.

Brazil also has accumulated $200 billion in foreign reserves, almost as much as the rest of Latin America combined. That money will help cushion the global meltdown

Now, Brazil wants to be recognized for its fiscal track record and to avoid the risks that come with a global economic crisis.

“Brazil has new standing in the world,” said Rubens Barbosa, a private consultant in Brazil who’s served as the ambassador to the United States. “We think we can contribute more.”

Quietly, Brazil already has become the most powerful country in Latin America.

Brazilian companies are expanding Caracas’ subway system, constructing a massive hydroelectric dam in Ecuador and building a highway in Peru that will give Brazilian companies better access to Peru’s ports.

Brazil also has been flexing its diplomatic muscles throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. It leads the main United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti, where it has 1,200 soldiers.

Without fanfare, Lula has undercut the ambitions of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in South America, providing an important counterweight in the eyes of U.S. policymakers.

Lula has undermined Chavez’s dreams of building a 5,000-mile gas pipeline connecting Venezuela and Brazil and has stymied Chavez’s plan for the Bank of the South, meant to provide an alternative to the World Bank.

Now Brazil wants a reward for all its efforts.

“Brazilians view the current economic crisis as something of an opportunity,” said Jeffrey Cason, a political science professor and Brazil expert at Middlebury College in Vermont. “They think they can increase the interest of developed nations in giving them a seat at the table and place Brazil in a leadership position on behalf of poor countries.”

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© 2008, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

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PUBLISHED BY ‘THE NEWS & OBSERVER’ (USA