China said yesterday that it will impose an anti-dumping duty as high as 105.4 percent on U.S. chicken products, effective today. The tariff rate will be between 50.3 percent and 53.4 percent for companies that cooperated in China’s investigation, reports Bloomberg News. Those companies that didn’t cooperate will get the 105.4 percent rate.

China’s Ministry of Commerce found that the U.S. poultry industry dumped its products on the Chinese market, hurting domestic production. The country’s initial investigation found that the U.S. provides subsidized soybeans and corn to its poultry industry, putting Chinese producers as a disadvantage.

“The final ruling is that the there is a causal relationship between the U.S. dumping of broiler products and the losses suffered by the Chinese industry,” the ministry said in Beijing.

Source: Bloomberg News

Mislabled sausage products recalled

Mekong Fresh Meats, a Mosinee, Wis., establishment, is recalling approximately 29,893 pounds of cured uncooked pork ginger sausages because they contain an undeclared allergen, wheat, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service announced. Wheat is a known allergen, which is not declared on the label.

The products subject to recall include: 5-pound bags, and 16-, 20- and 32-ounce packages of “Cured Uncooked Pork Ginger Sausage.” Each package bears the establishment number "EST. 27488A" inside the USDA mark of inspection. The sausage products were produced between June 21, 2010 and September 21, 2010. These products were distributed to retail establishments in Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma and Wisconsin.

The problem was discovered by FSIS during a labeling review at the establishment. FSIS and the company have received no reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of these products.

Source: FSIS

McDonalds super-sizing Chicken Snack Wrap

McDonald’s is testing a larger, premium version of its Chicken Snack Wrap. The burrito-sized Chicken Grande Wrap feature diced cucumber, shredded cheese, sliced tomato and lettuce and come in three varieties, reports the Chicago Sun-Times -- Garden Ranch, with ranch sauce; Roma Pesta, with tomato pesto and garlic aioli; and Santa Fe BBQ, with barbeque ranch sauce, black beans and corn.

The wraps cost $3.99 each, compared to the $1.49 Snack Wraps.

Source: Chicago Sun-Times

$35 million approved for chicken waste-powered energy project

The California Municipal Finance Authority has approved $35 million in low-interest bind financing for a company’s plan to use chicken waste to power an energy generation project south of the city of Sonoma.

The project, led by OHR BioStar, would take waste from local egg farms and generate methane gas, powering a 1.4 megawatt fuel cell, reports the (Santa Rosa, Calif.) Press Democrat. That electricity would then be sold to the Sonoma County Water Agency, accounting for about one-third of the agency’s normal usage. The agency has the goal of being 100 percent carbon-neutral by 2015.

The chicken waste will be processed adjacent to the water agency’s treatment plant on 8th Street East or on an adjacent property recently purchased by the agency.

Source: The Press Democrat

Tyson commemorates 10 years of hunger relief

In 1999, Tyson Foods Inc. assessed its considerable charitable giving and chose to focus on fighting hunger in the United States. In May of 2000, Tyson announced a commitment to feed those in need, which, in 10 years, has made the company a corporate leader in domestic hunger relief. During the past decade, Tyson has led the U.S. protein industry by donating more than 76 million pounds of Tyson products to hunger and disaster relief, in addition to engaging its own employees, customers and communities in the fight against hunger.

“Since 2000, hunger relief has become a significant part of our company’s culture,” stated Tyson Foods president and CEO, Donnie Smith. “We have donated food in 48 states—including the ones where we have plants—in the past 10 years. I’m proud of the way our Team Members have responded in their own communities. We will continue to fight domestic hunger as we go into our second decade of action.”

Tyson Foods has established partnerships with the most important and well-recognized hunger relief organizations in the U.S., including Share Our Strength, Feeding America (formerly America’s Second Harvest), and Lift Up America. These partnerships include:
• A six-year sponsorship of Share Our Strength’s Operation Frontline program, which teaches food budgeting/ food preparation skills to people at risk of hunger.
• More than 50 food bank donation events each year in communities across America designed to raise public awareness of the issue of hunger.
• Sponsorship of a Student Food Drive, piloted in 18 U.S. communities, which engaged high school students in raising food and funds for their local Feeding America food banks.

Tyson Foods has worked to actively engage its 117,000 Team Members in the fight against hunger. Powering the Spirit is the company’s internal program in which Team Members raise money for hunger relief. Seventy-five percent of the money raised goes directly to hunger relief programs in the communities in which it is raised, and 25 percent goes to Share Our Strength. In five years, Tyson Team Members have raised more than $350,000 in an incredibly diverse array of fundraising activities. Tyson Foods also has been an active member of the community of people and groups involved in the issue of hunger. In 2007, Tyson Foods established an online presence, Tyson Hunger Relief, which includes both a blog and an area wherein users can create recognition for Hunger All-Stars, those in their own communities doing great work in the fight against hunger. The company also manages a Twitter account focusing on hunger, which now has more than 6500 followers, in addition to a YouTube channel focusing on hunger relief efforts.

During 2010, Tyson Foods has been active in advocating for strong reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act, which funds school lunch programs—the nutritional lifeline for more than 12 million children at risk of hunger, whose primary meal of the day is eaten at school.

In celebration of the company’s 10 years in hunger relief, Tyson Foods will donate more than one million pounds of food during the month of September, which is national Hunger Action Month.

A video about the company’s hunger relief efforts through ten years can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMaeTa7k7FE.

Source: Tyson Foods Inc.

Demand for top-quality beef outstripping supply, reports MU

Steak-eating consumers want more USDA Prime quality beef. Missouri cow-calf producers can supply that growing demand in the United States and the world. Cow-calf producers heard those messages repeated by speakers at the second annual University of Missouri Thompson Farm field day in Grundy County, Sept. 21.

Of all cattle fed and marketed in U.S. feedlots, only 3 percent grade USDA Prime, the highest of the four beef quality grades. MU Thompson Farm calves graded more than 10 times higher in that top Prime grade, plus drawing other premiums.

“There are U.S. markets that reward producers with USDA Choice and Prime grade calves,” said David Patterson, MU Extension beef specialist. Patterson showed results of research at the farm since 1997 resulting in improved timed-breeding protocols.

In June a pen of 38 MU calves from Spickard, Mo., topped the AngusSource Carcass Challenge of all commercial feedlots for the U.S. central region for the second quarter of 2010. High-quality calves draw dollar premiums for Prime, Choice, Certified Angus Beef and age-and-source verification.

“Producers leave money on the table when they don’t use improved genetics, management and retained ownership,” said Abner Womack, MU senior economist. He showed producers where to find key figures on the clutter of data on a carcass cutout sheet received from processors.

“It took me about a month to figure this out,” Womack added. He said that calves from timed artificial insemination (TAI), using high-accuracy proven sires, bring an extra $90 over calves from bull matings.

Only producers who retain ownership of their calves see those carcass sheets. To bring premium money back to Missouri, farmers must own, at least partially, the calves all the way through the feedlot to marketing.

Beyond premiums, Womack said, the real value comes from added weight gain, faster growth and increased equity in superior cows retained on the farm.

Jerry Jackson from the Kansas feedlot where the Missouri calves were fed and sold told producers they want more Missouri cattle like the Thompson calves. That request belies the reputation held by many feedlots for fescue-fed Missouri calves.

“If you have high-quality calves, we want them,” said Jackson from the Irsik & Doll Feed Yard, Garden City, Kan. “We are custom feeders. You retain ownership and collect the premiums.”

Larry Corah, vice president of Certified Angus Beef, Manhattan, Kan., said Missouri producers “with two million mother cows” can help meet the demand for premium-quality beef sought by consumers. Missouri already produces more Prime grade cattle than any other state, Corah added. “You’re in position to increase that more than others.”

Corah, whose job is marketing quality beef, said top U.S. chefs can’t find enough beef that gives the prime eating experience consumers want when they go to a “white-linen-tablecloth restaurant.”

The big surprise has been continued growth in demand for Prime beef in the economic downturn. “Now consumers are buying those steaks at retail and taking them home to grill. In hard times, they don’t want to give up quality eating,” Corah said. “They just don’t go out to eat as often.”

Patterson said survival of the U.S. beef industry depends on producing the quality corn-fed beef wanted by consumers globally. On his second trip to South America, Patterson was told that Brazil can outproduce the U.S. in the commodity beef market. “They now challenge us for the corn-fed quality beef market. The U.S. beef future is not in producing hamburger but Prime steaks.”

On three farm tours, MU Extension speakers told of improved breeding methods, better weaning management, improved herd health and hay testing for better nutrition this winter.

“There is no reason not to use the improved beef technology. You can’t afford not to,” Patterson said. Surveys of U.S. producers show that only 10 percent use artificial insemination and only 50 percent of herds have a set breeding season.

Brazilian herd owners are adopting the U.S. beef technology. “They can’t understand why we don’t use timed AI and ultrasound pregnancy checking,” Patterson said.

In a post-field-day meeting, Patterson said many farmers in the audience “already get it.” Producers who took part in field demonstrations of TAI protocols developed at Thompson Farm brought their carcass cutout sheets from those trials. Their calves sold at 100 percent Choice grade or better with high rates of Prime and CAB premiums.

Thompson Farm is part of the Missouri Agricultural Experiment Station and a site of MU Extension teaching, such as field days and AI schools.

Source: University of Missouri