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1. Dr. Andy Schwartz Steps up as Texas State Veterinarian
Texas Animal Health Commission News Release
May 26, 2016
AUSTIN - The Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) is pleased to announce Dr. Andy Schwartz has been named Texas' state veterinarian and TAHC's executive director. The 13 governor-appointed TAHC commissioners, representing the public, livestock and poultry industries, announced the selection of Dr. Schwartz at the TAHC commission meeting on Tuesday, May 24.
"I am confident that Dr. Schwartz will provide excellent leadership as state veterinarian and TAHC executive director," said TAHC Chairman Coleman Locke. "Dr. Schwartz has served the agency since 1990, has a proven work ethic, and is highly respected by those in animal agriculture industries throughout Texas and the United States. We look forward to working with Dr. Schwartz in this capacity."
Dr. Schwartz grew up on a diverse family farm in Priddy, Texas, where he got his start in animal agriculture. He received an undergraduate degree in Animal Agriculture from Tarleton State University before attending Texas A&M School of Veterinary Medicine where he received a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree.
He began his professional career in a mixed animal practice that included beef and dairy cattle, horses, swine, and sheep. This experience proved quite valuable as he began his career at TAHC, working his way up. He started as a field veterinarian, was promoted to Region Director, then to State Epidemiologist/Assistant Executive Director, and his most recent promotion to the agency's top job - Executive Director/State Veterinarian.
"Dr. Schwartz is nationally recognized among regulatory veterinarians and policy makers, and has worked closely with state health officials in the US and other countries on diseases affecting livestock and poultry. He is frequently sought after as speaker for livestock industry meetings," said TAHC Chairman Locke. "He can quickly 'digest' a problem and seek solutions with working groups, an attribute that we have come to greatly appreciate in a TAHC leadership position."
Currently residing in Austin, Dr. Schwartz and his wife, Kathy, have four children and two grandchildren.
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2. Palm Beach County, Florida, EHV Quarantine Released
By Erica Larson, News Editor
TheHorse.com
May 26, 2016
A quarantine imposed on a facility in Palm Beach County, Florida, after a horse tested positive for neurologic equine heperesvirus-1 (EHV-1) has been released, the Equine Disease Communication Center (EDCC) reported May 26.
On May 12, the facility was quarantined after a horse displayed neurologic signs and was confirmed positive for EHV-1. That horse was euthanized.
On May 25 the quarantine was lifted after all horses on the premises tested negative for the virus with both blood and nasal samples and no additional EHV-1 cases were detected during the isolation period, the EDCC said.
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3. Huge Undertaking with Tremendous Benefit - USDA's Integral Role in the National Beef Quality Audit
Posted by Craig A. Morris, Deputy Administrator, AMS Livestock, Poultry and Seed Program
USDA Blog
May 26, 2016
About once every five years since 1991, the National Beef Quality Audit (NBQA) brings together producers, consumers, academia, and government in a collaborative research and data collection exercise that spans the entire U.S. beef industry. Funded by the Cattlemen's Beef Board (the beef checkoff program), the NBQA assesses the current status of the industry regarding production processes and practices that ultimately affect consumer demand for beef.
The audit uses a multi-phase approach to identify the top challenges the fed-beef (cattle raised for meat production) industry faces. The NBQA first gathers data to measure current quality and consistency of U.S fed-beef, and then quantifies the level to which cattle producers are applying common sense husbandry techniques, specifically the Beef Quality Assurance principles, to safeguard that quality. The results are translated into practical guidance for continued improvement in the production of fed-beef and, in turn, consumers' acceptance of the end products found in stores.
Right now, USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) supervisors and meat graders are playing an important role in the success of the 2016 NBQA. An essential part of this endeavor are the beef packing plant audits currently scheduled at dozens of plants across the country.
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4. Proactive Efforts by U.S. Federal Agencies Enable Early Detection of New Antibiotic Resistance
Posted by David J. Smith, M.D., Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Readiness Policy and Oversight, Cathie Woteki, Ph. D., USDA Under Secretary for Research, Education & Economics; Beth P. Bell, MD MPH, Director of CDC's National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases
USDA Blog
May 26, 2016
Just over a year ago, President Obama released a National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria. As part of that plan, he also charged the Department of Defense (DoD), Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) with co-chairing a Presidential Advisory Council on Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria (Advisory Council). In the past year, our three agencies and the Council have held numerous stakeholder meetings, made new discoveries, and undertaken new research to preserve the effectiveness of antibiotics.
In recent weeks, our three agencies have made some important discoveries regarding antibiotic resistance in the United States. Earlier this week, the Department of Defense notified stakeholders that its Multidrug-resistant Organism Repository and Surveillance Network (MRSN) at the Walter Reed Institute of Research had identified the first colistin-resistant mcr-1 E. coli in a person in the United States. A USDA and HHS search for colistin-resistant bacteria in food animals, retail meats and people also has found colistin-resistant E. coli in a single sample from a pig intestine.
These discoveries are of concern because colistin is used as a last-resort drug to treat patients with multi-drug resistant infections. Finding colistin-resistant bacteria in the United States is important, as it was only last November that scientists in China first reported that the mcr-1 gene in bacteria confers colistin resistance. Following the revelation in China, scientists across the globe began searching for other bacteria containing the mcr-1 gene, and the bacteria have since been discovered in Europe and Canada. The mcr-1 gene exists on a plasmid, a small piece of DNA that is not a part of a bacterium's chromosome. Plasmids are capable of moving from one bacterium to another, spreading antibiotic resistance between bacterial species.
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5. Poultry to return to Pa. fairs, Farm Show
By Sentinel Staff
The Sentinel
May 26, 2016
The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture Thursday announced that live poultry exhibits and competitions will return to upcoming fairs across the state, as well as to the 2017 Pennsylvania Farm Show.
The department said that after a year-long suspension of avian activities at 109 county fairs and this past Farm Show, the ban will be lifted June 1.
The ban was put into place in May 2015 as a precautionary measure to protect Pennsylvania's poultry industry against the threat of avian influenza, or bird flu, the department said.
It noted that if a positive case is confirmed in Pennsylvania, the ban will be reinstated immediately.
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6. Sarasota deer tests positive for rabies [FL]
10News WTSP
May 26, 2016
A deer in the Myakka Valley Ranches Subdivision has tested positive for rabies, according to the state Department of Health in Sarasota County.
A local veterinarian who lives in the area saw the fawn twitching in the face, having poor muscular coordination, salivating and no longer having a fear of humans. The deer was euthanized and tested positive for rabies.
The agency has issued a rabies alert for 60 days in the Myakka Valley Ranches Subdivision.
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7. Imported Food Safety: FDA's Targeting Tool Has Enhanced Screening, but Further Improvements Are Possible
GAO-16-399
Published: May 26, 2016
What GAO Found
The Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Predictive Risk-based Evaluation for Dynamic Import Compliance Targeting (PREDICT) tool uses a variety of data and analyzes data by applying rules-conditional statements that tell PREDICT how to react when encountering particular information-to generate risk scores for imported food. Many of the data used by PREDICT come from internal FDA sources, such as FDA databases. PREDICT also uses data from sources outside of FDA, such as other federal agencies, states, and foreign governments. Some of the data are open source data-information that is publicly available, such as information from newspapers and websites. FDA's Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA) relies on other FDA offices and federal agencies to provide open source data for PREDICT, but ORA does not have a documented process for identifying, obtaining, and using the data, relying instead on an ad hoc process. Federal standards for internal control call for agencies to document internal controls. Without a documented process for identifying, obtaining, and using open source data, FDA does not have reasonable assurance that ORA will consistently identify, obtain, and use such data for PREDICT.
The implementation of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), enacted in 2011, will provide PREDICT with additional data for estimating the risk of imported food. FDA identified FSMA provisions likely to generate data, including the Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP), which requires importers to verify that their foreign suppliers use processes and procedures that provide the same public health protection as applicable U.S. requirements. Because FSVP and other FSMA-related programs are still new and not yet fully implemented, the details of how PREDICT will use the data have not been worked out. However, according to FDA officials, the data will be useful. For example, FSVP data will identify suppliers that are not in compliance with standards, and PREDICT will use those data in assigning risk scores to imports from those suppliers.
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