Reading Time: 2 minutes Tel Aviv/Frankfurt | Reuters — Two years after scientists cooked up the first test-tube beef burger, researchers in Israel are working on an even trickier recipe: the world’s first lab-grown chicken. Professor Amit Gefen, a bioengineer at Tel Aviv University, has begun a year-long feasibility study into manufacturing chicken in a lab, funded by a […] Read more
After first lab-grown burger, test-tube chicken is next on menu
U.S. exports at risk as bird flu enters heart of poultry country
Reading Time: 3 minutes Chicago | Reuters — A case of bird flu confirmed Wednesday in the heart of America’s poultry region, is certain to mean more export restrictions, increasing U.S. supply and likely forcing the world’s biggest poultry companies to trim prices. The U.S. government announced the infection of highly pathogenic H5N2 avian flu in turkeys in Arkansas […] Read more
KFC faces pressure after McDonald’s says no antibiotics in chicken
Reading Time: 3 minutes Los Angeles/Chicago | Reuters — KFC, the world’s largest chain of fried chicken restaurants, may face pressure from consumer and environmental groups to change how its poultry are raised after McDonald’s said it would switch to chicken raised without human antibiotics. McDonald’s will phase out chicken raised with antibiotics that are important to human health […] Read more
Mutating H7N9 bird flu may pose pandemic threat, scientists warn
Reading Time: 2 minutes London | Reuters –– A wave of H7N9 bird flu in China that has spread into people may have the potential to emerge as a pandemic strain in humans, scientists said Wednesday. The H7N9 virus, one of several strains of bird flu known to be able to infect humans, has persisted, diversified and spread in […] Read more
Movement restrictions lifted on B.C. birds
Reading Time: 2 minutes British Columbia’s poultry producers no longer need federal permits to move their wares in the province. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency confirmed Wednesday it has removed its avian influenza primary control zone (PCZ) — a zone which had covered the entire southern half of B.C., including Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlotte Islands. CFIA in […] Read more
H5N2 avian flu spreads down Mississippi flyway
Reading Time: 2 minutes Two more states whose migrating birds’ flight paths cross over much of the Prairies and Ontario now have outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5N2 avian flu in commercial turkeys. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Tuesday expanded its restrictions on cross-border imports of U.S. birds, eggs and uncooked poultry products to include those from Missouri. The […] Read more
Canada blocking poultry, eggs from Minnesota
Reading Time: 2 minutes Discovery of H5N2 avian flu at a commercial turkey operation in central Minnesota has led Canada to curb cross-border imports of poultry and eggs from the state. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) on Friday announced restrictions blocking any raw poultry or poultry products or byproducts that aren’t fully cooked. Such products — including eggs […] Read more
Costco working to end use of human antibiotics in chicken
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Costco Wholesale Corp. is working toward eliminating the sale of chicken and meat from other animals raised with antibiotics that are vital to fighting human infections, senior executives at the third-largest U.S. retailer told Reuters on Thursday. The ongoing push by Costco, which sells 80 million rotisserie chickens a year, highlights […] Read more
H5N2 avian flu found in Minnesota turkey flock
Reading Time: < 1 minute U.S. officials have confirmed a commercial turkey flock in central Minnesota to be the first in the Mississippi flyway with a highly pathogenic strain of H5N2 avian flu. The high-path strain is confirmed as the same seen in recent months in backyard flocks and wild birds in the Pacific flyway states of Washington, Oregon and […] Read more
McDonald’s to ‘evaluate’ antibiotic use in Canadian chicken
Reading Time: 2 minutes The Canadian arm of fast-food giant McDonald’s isn’t yet moving to follow its U.S. counterpart’s plans to phase out use of certain antibiotics on chickens in its supply chain. The U.S. chain announced Wednesday it would move, over the next two years, to only purchase chicken “raised without antibiotics that are important to human medicine.” […] Read more