Reading Time: 3 minutes Los Angeles | Reuters — Yum Brands’ U.S. KFC chain plans to curb the use of antibiotics in its chicken supply, making it the last of the big three chicken restaurants to join the fight against the rise of dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria known as superbugs. KFC, the second-biggest U.S. chicken chain by sales after privately […] Read more
KFC to curb antibiotic use in U.S. chickens it buys
Top U.S. chicken-producing state sees first case of bird flu
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Georgia has confirmed its first-ever case of bird flu in commercial poultry, its agriculture department said on Monday, widening an outbreak of the disease into the United States’ biggest chicken meat-producing state. A flock of 18,000 chickens used for breeding was culled after testing positive for H7 bird flu, according to […] Read more
Brazil fears lost market share for meat industry
Reading Time: < 1 minute Brasilia | Reuters — Brazil’s meatpacking industry has been badly damaged by a police investigation into alleged unsanitary and corrupt practices, and could lose upward of 10 per cent of its global market share, Agriculture Minister Blairo Maggi said Wednesday. Maggi told a Senate committee that the main concern was with the China and Hong […] Read more
Tim’s, Burger King to tighten broiler welfare standards
Reading Time: 3 minutes The owner of the Tim Hortons and Burger King fast food chains plans to have the broiler chicken producers supplying its Canadian and U.S. outlets meet a tighter set of welfare standards within the next seven years. Restaurant Brands International (RBI) announced on its website it will be “pursuing alignment” with Global Animal Partnership (GAP) […] Read more
Canada blocks poultry, eggs from Tennessee, Alabama
Reading Time: 2 minutes Cross-border travellers coming into Canada from the U.S. are being warned not to bring in raw poultry or eggs from Tennessee or Alabama following outbreaks of avian flu in those states. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Thursday announced restrictions on imports of uncooked poultry products, live birds and/or eggs from those two states until […] Read more
A+W tightens standards for broiler suppliers’ barns
Reading Time: 2 minutes Canadian burger and root beer chain A+W has set up additional standards for broiler barns supplying chicken meat to its restaurants. On top of its existing requirements for raising birds on grain-based diets without the use of antibiotics, the company on Friday announced it would require a new maximum stocking density for birds in its […] Read more
Low-path bird flu turns up in Wisconsin turkeys
Reading Time: 2 minutes Paris | Reuters — The U.S. has reported an outbreak of avian flu on a farm in Wisconsin, the second in the country in less than a week although the virus found this time is considered less virulent, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) said on Tuesday. A strain of low-pathogenic H5N2 avian flu […] Read more
Bird flu found in Tennessee chicken flock
Reading Time: 3 minutes Reuters — A strain of bird flu has been detected in a chicken breeder flock on a Tennessee farm contracted to U.S. food giant Tyson Foods, and the 73,500 birds will be culled to stop the virus from entering the food system, government and company officials said on Sunday. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said […] Read more
WHO says bird flu outbreaks raise alarm
Reading Time: 2 minutes London | Reuters — The risk of sustained human-to-human transmission of H7N9 avian flu in China is low, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday, but a surge in human cases there is worrying and requires constant monitoring. Outbreaks of H5 bird flu strains in poultry and wild birds across Europe, Africa and Asia are […] Read more
Cash-rich Maple Leaf sees abundant U.S. opportunities
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — Canadian meat packing company Maple Leaf Foods is hunting for acquisitions in the U.S., after years spent upgrading old factories and shedding business lines, its CEO said on Wednesday. Maple Leaf, which reported on Wednesday its profits doubled in the fourth quarter, sees growth opportunities from meat produced humanely and without antibiotics, and […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
