The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced this afternoon that the Western blot confirmatory test conducted on an "inconclusive" animal was positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). Immunohistochemistry (IHC) tests are still pending.

"The samples were taken from a non-ambulatory animal on a farm in Alabama," USDA chief veterinary officer John Clifford said. "A local private veterinarian euthanized and sampled the animal and sent the samples for further testing, which was conducted at one of our contract diagnostic laboratories at the University of Georgia. The animal was buried on the farm, and it did not enter the animal or human food chains."

Source: Feedstuffs, March 13, 2006
Source URL: http://www.feedstuffs.com

Air regulators in California’s San Joaquin Valley will go low-tech when it comes to regulating air pollution from livestock.

A new rule from the valley’s Air Pollution Control District would require producers to frequently flush paddocks, cover feed stockpiles, and other common measures to try to minimize gases entering the atmosphere that can lead to smog formation.

Source: San Jose Mercury News/ Associated Press, March 13, 2006
Source URL: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/
local/states/california/northern_california/14089643.htm

Amid all the doom-and-gloom predictions for the nation’s dairy industry comes the optimistic Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board.

As agricultural economists predict Wisconsin’s dairy industry will slide this year, the Milk Marketing Board said that the industry as a whole is growing.

Source: Wisconsin Ag Connection, March 13, 2006
Source URL: http://www.wisconsinagconnection.com/story-state.cfm?ID=306&yr=2006

A small Washington state food processor is expanding into the national market with its unusual type of Greek yogurt.

Greek Gods LLC has signed a distribution deal with United Natural Foods Inc. after Greek Gods broke the $1 million mark in sales last year for the first time. Sales this year are expected to soar to between $3 million and $4 million, largely because of yogurt sales.

Source: Puget Sound Business Journal/ Steve Wilhelm, March 10, 2006
Source URL: http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2006/03/13/story7.html

As expected, the USDA increased the forecast of 2005-06 marketing year exports of corn in the March 10 report. U.S.exports are now projected at 1.9 billion bushels, 50 million more than projected last month and 86 million more than exported last year.

Based on large weekly export sales since the second week of January, some had expected the USDA to increase the export projection by more than 50 million bushels. Export sales during the eight weeks ended March 2, 2006 totaled 437 million bushels. Sales during that eight week period last year totaled only 246 million bushels. Based on the USDA's weekly Export Sales report, U.S. export commitments for the 2005-06 marketing year totaled 1.326 billion bushels as of March 2. Of that total 364 million bushels had not yet been shipped. The total is 135 million larger than commitments of a year ago and unshipped sales are up 98 million bushels.

Source: Farmdoc/ University of Illinois/ Darrel Good, March 13, 2006
Source URL: http://www.farmdoc.uiuc.edu/marketing/weekly/html/031306.html

The most profitable food industry businesses are not retail and restaurant outlets, but the companies that supply industrial customers with products, according to a new national study by Oregon State University researchers.

Businesses, such as those that sell ingredients for another business's packaged or prepared foods, report the highest growth and profitability of those examined in the new report, "A Snapshot of U.S. Food Business."

Source: Oregon State University/ News Release, March 6, 2006
Source URL: http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ncs/newsarch/2006/Mar06/foodstudy.htm

In this study, we aimed to develop a specific, sensitive, and rapid method to extract DNA directly from the main gram-positive bacteria known to cause bovine mastitis (Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus agalactiae, Streptococcus dysgalactiae, and Streptococcus uberis) found in milk samples.

The level of sensitivity achieved in our experiments is applicable to milk sample analysis without sample enrichment.

Source: Improved method for rapid DNA extraction of mastitis pathogens directly from milk. Journal of Dairy Science 89 (1): 163-169, 2006. Cremonesi, P.; Castiglioni, B.; Malferrari, G.; Biunno, I.; et al.

Heptadecenoic acid (17: 1) is a minor constituent of ruminant fats and its isomeric definition remains undefined in most reports on ruminant milk and intramuscular fat.

Moreover, current GC methods were able to resolve cis-9 from cis-10 and cis-8 isomers, so reports on 17: 1 contents in ruminant fat should define its isomeric composition.

Source: The nature of heptadecenoic acid in ruminant fats. Journal of Dairy Science 89 (1): 170-173, 2006. Alves, S.P.; Marcelino, C.; Portugal, P.V.; Bessa, R.J.B.

Success in other emerging markets has emboldened French food giant Danone to say it will expand with a new dairy plant in Bangladesh.

Danone will join with the Grameen bank in the venture to provide food to low-income consumers. An announcement of the deal will come later this week about the partnership, dubbed Grameen Danone Foods.

Source: Food Navigator/ Anita Awbi, March 13, 2006
Source URL: http://www.foodnavigator.com/news/ng.asp?n=66369-danone-actimel-activa

The marketing arm of India’s National Dairy Development Board is planning to strengthen and expand distribution of its primary brand, as well as offer more varieties of processed food products.

Mother Dairy India is targeting another 8,000 to 10,000 outlets for its Safal brand this year, said Paul Thacil, CEO of Mother Dairy India.

Source: Sify, March 11, 2006
Source URL: http://sify.com/finance/fullstory.php?id=14160478