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1. USDA Finalizes New Food Safety Measures to Reduce Salmonella and Campylobacter in Poultry
USDA Press Release
February 4, 2016
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) today announced the finalization of new federal standards to reduce Salmonella and Campylobacter in ground chicken and turkey products, as well as in raw chicken breasts, legs, and wings. Based on scientific risk assessments, FSIS estimates that implementation of these standards will lead to an average of 50,000 prevented illnesses annually.
As part of this move to make chicken and turkey items that Americans frequently purchase safer to eat, FSIS has also updated its microbial testing schedule at poultry facilities and will soon begin posting more information online about individual companies' food safety performance.
"Over the past seven years, USDA has put in place tighter and more strategic food safety measures than ever before for meat and poultry products. We have made strides in modernizing every aspect of food safety inspection, from company record keeping, to labeling requirements, to the way we perform testing in our labs," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. "These new standards, in combination with greater transparency about poultry companies' food safety performance and better testing procedures, will help prevent tens of thousands of foodborne illnesses every year, reaching our Healthy People 2020 goals."
FSIS uses pathogen reduction performance standards to assess the food safety performance of establishments that prepare meat and poultry products. By making the standards for ground poultry tougher to meet, ground poultry products nationwide will have less contamination and therefore result in fewer foodborne illnesses. FSIS implemented performance standards for whole chickens in 1996 but has since learned that Salmonella levels increase as chicken is further processed into parts. Poultry parts like breasts, wings and others represent 80 percent of the chicken available for Americans to purchase. By creating a standard for chicken parts, and by performing regulatory testing at a point closer to the final product, FSIS can greatly reduce consumer exposure to Salmonella and Campylobacter.
"This approach to poultry inspection is based on science, supported by strong data, and will truly improve public health," said USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety Al Almanza. "The new performance standards will complement the many other proactive, prevention-based food policies that we've put in place in recent years to make America's supply of meat and poultry safer to eat."
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2. Disease identified as killer of Wyoming mule deer fawns [WY]
By Brett French
Billings Gazette
February 4, 2016
A Wyoming study attempting to understand the mule deer population decline in the southwestern part of the state has found a new killer of fawns - adenovirus hemorrhagic disease, or AHD.
"AHD is a pretty new discovery," said Samantha Dwinnell, a researcher for the Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, during a presentation to the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission last week.
Because the discovery is so new, researchers are uncertain how it is affecting the migratory mule deer populations of the Wyoming Range. But of the 52 fawns collared for the study, there were 22 mortalities. Of those, 36 percent of the deaths were attributed to AHD. Twenty-seven percent of the deaths were caused by predators.
The disease's presence is not limited to Wyoming.
"There have been some outbreaks that have occurred throughout the West and in Iowa," Dwinnell said.
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3. Halbur leads Iowa team against animal disease outbreaks [IA]
By Jeff DeYoung
Iowa Farmer Today
February 4, 2016
AMES - Pat Halbur leads one of the top veterinary diagnostic labs in the U.S., but in his heart, he is still that Carroll County farm boy who always dreamed of a career as a veterinarian.
"Veterinary medicine is always what I wanted to do," he says. "Our local veterinary clinic was a big influence with that decision. I saw how they were an essential part of a livestock operation, and that's what I wanted to do."
Halbur achieved that goal and now serves as executive director of Iowa State University's Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (VDL), an institution that handles more food animal disease cases than any lab in the world.
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4. Seashore finds elk with gut disease [CA]
By Samantha Kimmey
Point Reyes Light
February 4, 2016
Five free-ranging tule elk in the Point Reyes National Seashore have tested positive for a lethal gut-wasting infection called Johne's disease, the first positive results since the seashore began testing elk over a year and a half ago as part of its forthcoming ranch management plan.
Johne's disease infects both elk and cows, and can pass between the species, which are mingling more in recent years as two elk herds have grown and encroached on federal pastureland.
For Ted McIsaac, president of the Point Reyes Seashore Ranchers Association, the positive tests appear to make one solution to the crisis some ranchers say they are facing-moving elk outside the seashore-impossible.
"Now we don't know what [the park is] gonna do," Mr. McIsaac said. "Well, we didn't know what they were gonna do start with. It's something we'll have to deal with. It's another avenue that they can't use."
Joe Hobbs, the elk and antelope coordinator at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, said state policy forbids moving elk with Johne's. But the policy does not prohibit moving uninfected elk in herds known to carry the disease.
"We don't want to create a problem somewhere else. But we look at everything in a totality," he said.
Mr. Hobbs said the state is still examining "all available options" for the seashore's free-ranging elk to help inform the ranching plan.
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5. Forest preserve: Keep horses off DuPage trails to prevent virus spread [IL]
The Daily Herald
February 4, 2016
Horse owners are being asked to keep their animals off DuPage County Forest Preserve District trails to help prevent the spread of the highly contagious and deadly equine herpes virus that has been reported in DuPage County.
In late January, the Illinois Bureau of Animal Health and Welfare was notified of laboratory confirmation of EHV-1 in eight horses boarded at Bartlett's Sunset Hill Farm, which houses 35 horses in a private stable at 8N190 Naperville Road. The state placed the stable under quarantine and at least two of the infected horses were euthanized and cremated.
Officials are not sure how the virus reached the farm.
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6. K-State's 103rd Cattlemen's Day set for March 4 [edited]
McPherson Sentinel
February 4, 2016
MANHATTAN, Kan. -- Kansas State University will host Cattlemen's Day 2016 on March 4 at Weber Hall in Manhattan, Kansas. The day starts at 8 a.m. with refreshments, educational exhibits and a commercial trade show. The program begins at 10 a.m.
Paul Heinrich, CEO of specialized food service broker, Encore Food Solutions, LLC, will give his perspective on the cattle industry economic outlook, including different customer segments and their focus on "center of the plate" items. Encore is based in Richmond, Texas.
Some topics:
"E. coli in the Beef System," given by Randy Phebus, K-State food safety specialist.
"The New Veterinary Feed Directive: Implications for Beef Producers," given by Bill Brown, animal health commissioner for the State of Kansas.
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7. Cooperative Research and Development Agreement Opportunity With the Department of Homeland Security for the International Foot-and-Mouth Disease Vaccine and Diagnostics Field Trial
Federal Register Volume 81, Number 23 (Thursday, February 4, 2016)
Notices
Pages 6033-6034
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-02123]
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Docket No. DHS-2016-0010
Cooperative Research and Development Agreement Opportunity With the Department of Homeland Security for the International Foot-and-Mouth Disease Vaccine and Diagnostics Field Trial
AGENCY: Chemical and Biological Defense Division (CBD), Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency, Science and Technology Directorate, Department of Homeland Security.
ACTION: Notice of intent.
SUMMARY: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Science and Technology Directorate (S&T), through its Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency (HSARPA), Chemical Biological Defense Division (CBD) is implementing and executing an international foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) vaccine and diagnostics field trial. The objective of the project is to evaluate a newly developed FMD vaccine(s) and companion diagnostic(s) in an FMDV endemic country. The specific goals of this project are to establish the efficacy of the newly developed replication-deficient adenovirus-vectored FMD (AdFMD) vaccine; the effectiveness, sensitivity, specificity, and ruggedness of a new companion diagnostic test (``3B ELISA'') under field conditions, and to provide data on the usage of a DIVA vaccine and companion diagnostic in an endemic disease situation which may be used to inform the U.S. response to an FMD outbreak. DHS anticipates that this project may lead to the development and fostering of partnerships and collaborations with industry, countries and national and international organizations that will result in a solid foundation that will facilitate the future development and testing of additional transboundary animal disease (TAD) vaccines and diagnostics.
CBD is seeking industry partners to enter into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA). It is envisioned that the primary role of the selected industry collaborator(s) will be to provide subject matter experts to inform the vaccine and diagnostic field trial design(s), country selection and regulatory processes, in addition to potentially developing, manufacturing and distributing or providing, the AdFMD experimental vaccines and companion ELISA diagnostic kits for the field trial.
DATES: Submit comments on or before March 7, 2016.
ADDRESSES: Mail comments and requests to participate to Dr. Roxann Motroni, (ATTN: Roxann Motroni, 245 Murray Lane SW., Washington, DC 20528-0075). Submit electronic comments and other data with the subject line ``International FMD Field Trial Notice of Intent'' to Roxann.Motroni@hq.dhs.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Information on DHS CRADAs: Scott Pugh, scott.pugh@hq.dhs.gov, (202) 254-2288.
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