US researcher receives Brazilian grant for laying hen research

Dr. Richard Gates, agricultural and biological engineering professor, University of Illinois, has been awarded a grant for special visiting researchers, Pesquisadors Visitante Especial (PVE), by the Brazilian government. The PVE program aims to attract senior foreign researchers recognized internationally as leaders in priority areas, such as engineering, technology and health sciences. Gates is one of 66 awardees this year.
Under this award, Gates will conduct projects with Brazilian research groups and is expected to visit Brazil for up to three months annually for the next three years. Gates said that his project seeks to improve the indoor environment of laying hen facilities in tropical and subtropical climates, such as Brazil. It involves the design of alternative facilities with improved insulation and mechanical ventilation and compares their operation with naturally-ventilated facilities. This study will develop guidelines for energy-efficient hybrid systems of ventilation to maintain productivity and enhance bird welfare while ensuring a safe and sustainable egg supply system.
"The research focus of our project in Brazil is to evaluate new ways to design and ventilate laying hen houses," said Gates. "We just completed a year-long study in the AWES lab, looking at the effect of areal ammonia concentration on laying hen preferences. Some of the alternative housing systems that are being developed aren't ventilated very well, and the ammonia levels can be higher than generally recommended. The AWES lab has an animal preference chamber with four environmentally controlled compartments that allow us to give the bird a clear choice among alternative conditions.
"For instance, will they tolerate high ammonia levels if it is warmer, or do they prefer cooler temperatures and low ammonia levels? That's a simple example of what preference chambers can tell us. The AWES facility will provide a training component for the students who come here, and then we'll all work together to develop a set of protocols on how to conduct preference testing."

Egg Foundation approved by International Egg Commission

A new Egg Foundation is being established to focus on knowledge transfer through educational seminars in developing countries. Establishment of the foundation is a follow on from the recent joint International Egg Commission and Food and Agriculture Organization meeting in Zambia.
The aim of the foundation is to boost egg production and consumption. The foundation will seek to find better ways to communicate with consumers and government bodies the nutritional value of eggs and the key role they can play in human nutrition.

OSI Group opening two more poultry processing plants in China

OSI Group will celebrate the grand opening of its ninth and tenth processing plants in China on October 19. The new plants include a multi-protein further processing facility and an adjacent, integrated poultry operation in Xihua, Henan.
The further processing plant will process poultry and beef products for customers in China and select export markets. Designed to become OSI's largest food processing facility globally, the two-phase further processing facility will measure more than 2.2 million square feet when fully completed in 2018. The first phase of the further processing plant will process par-fried and fully cooked chicken products and employ nearly 500 workers. Phase 2, which will be operational by 2016, will include additional high speed lines and expand the plant's product capabilities to value-added beef.
The DaOSI slaughter plant, which is a joint venture between OSI and leading Chinese poultry company Doyoo Group, will be OSI's largest integrated poultry operation globally, spanning nearly 400,000 square feet.
The overall investment in these operations exceeds $300 million.
The opening of the Henan operation marks OSI's third fully vertically integrated poultry operation in China. With this addition in central China, OSI will be on track to process 300 million birds per year.
"In total, OSI Henan will become the largest further processing facility for value-added meat in all of Asia," said Brent Afman, senior vice president and managing director for OSI's Asia Pacific region. "OSI Henan will have the capability to support our valued customers' growth plans for years to come."
David McDonald, president and chief operating officer of OSI, agreed. "We have invested a great deal in China and are quite appreciative of the growth here," he said. "There is no other place in the world growing as quickly as China, and we feel fortunate to be a part of it. We look at China as the number one growth effort among all of our global activities."
OSI has been operating in China since opening its first factory in Beijing in 1992. OSI also has facilities in India, Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines and Australia, and expects to employ nearly 8,000 people throughout the Asia Pacific region by the end of 2013.

Perdue Farms renews support for Big Brothers Big Sisters in Virginia

Kenny Lambert, director of Perdue Farms’ operation in Bridgewater, Va., presents a check for $10,000 from the Arthur W. Perdue Foundation to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Harrisonburg/Rockingham County.

As part of its commitment to building stronger communities, Perdue Farms, through the Arthur W. Perdue Foundation, has renewed its support of local youth with a $10,000 grant to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Harrisonburg-Rockingham County, Va. The Foundation has awarded $30,000 in endowments to Big Brothers Big Sisters since 2011.
"Perdue and the Arthur W. Perdue Foundation continue to serve as vital partners in our efforts to help build a stronger community by increasing the odds that children facing adversity in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County achieve success," said Susan Totty, executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters. "Their contributions have directly sponsored over 50 one-to-one mentoring relationships over the past three years. We look forward to continuing our collaborations to help local children reach their full potential."
According to Totty, the funds will be used to support matches in the Big Brothers Big Sisters School/Site-Based Mentoring Program. Matches in this program meet at the child's school or an approved after school site for one hour each week. Matches may do such things as have lunch together, go to recess, play games, work on homework or make crafts. "In the end, the program is about providing guidance and building a child's confidence to help foster an eagerness to learn and succeed," said Totty.
"At Perdue, we're proud to stand side by side with Big Brothers Big Sister as advocates for fostering positive mentoring relationships with children in the Harrisonburg and Rockingham County communities," said Kenny Lambert, director of Perdue operations in Bridgewater, Va. Lambert serves on the Big Brothers Big Sisters Board and Resource Development Committee. "I've seen firsthand the impact a mentor can have in the life of a child, and am proud that our company is continuing its support in the local community through this Foundation funding."

Honesty of Meatless Monday campaign in question

Research from the American Agriculture Alliance has shown discrepancies in the number of claimed Meatless Monday participants and the actual participants.

After weeks of investigation, the Animal Agriculture Alliance has concluded that the Meatless Monday campaign is misrepresenting the campaign's enrollment and prevalence among schools, restaurants, hospitals and colleges. Since the inception of the Meatless Monday campaign, the alliance has closely monitored the campaign's progress and tried to correct its misinformation about the healthfulness of meat consumption and environmental impact of livestock production.
In anticipation of the Meatless Monday campaign's 10^th anniversary, the alliance analyzed the overall effects of the campaign and gauged its effectiveness by individually surveying every participant listed on the Meatless Monday website. The Alliance found that the campaign has not been as popular as the Meatless Monday movement claimed. Most notably:

• Out of the 236 kindergarten through twelfth grade schools listed as participating, more than 51 percent no longer or never participated in the program;
• Out of the 155 colleges/universities listed as participating, more than 43.2 percent no longer or never participated in the program;
• Out of the school districts listed as participating, more than 57 percent no longer do. 
The Meatless Monday campaign also counts restaurants and food service providers among their allies, yet over 35 percent and 47 percent, respectively, no longer participate in the program.
"These results are truly astounding. When we started the project, we didn't expect nearly as many organizations to not actually be participating in the program," said Kay Johnson Smith, president and CEO of the alliance. "The Meatless Monday campaign tries to promote a reduction in meat, milk and egg consumption as trendy, but clearly it hasn't taking off as strongly as they'd hoped."
Schools, restaurants and food service providers also echoed these sentiments noting that adoption of the campaign was widely unpopular, led to food waste and elicited complaints from parents worried about proper nutrition.
Near the alliance in Henrico County, Va., Jamie Jerabeck, a nutritionist for the school district, commented that they participated in the program for about a year but were "overwhelmed with parents complaining."
Similarly, at the Monroe Elementary School in Utah, Lisa Larson told the alliance that the students "didn't like the choices they were given," which apparently included peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and salads. April Young, a registered dietitian with the Granite County School District in Utah, echoed these concerns, noting there was already a vegetarian option available in the local schools.
"We made a conscious decision to end the program after participating for a little under two years," said Young. "As a dietitian I plan meals to accommodate students. Many students have their own dietary needs and those should be handled individually-not as part of a large-scale program."
Many of those interviewed by the alliance maintained that they didn't understand how they appeared on the Meatless Monday website in the first place. Staff at Texas Health Resources commented, "we don't understand why we're on the list - we're a corporate office and have nothing to do with meal services."
Daniel Sauer, owner of 7a Vineyard Restaurant in Haven, Mass., also said he has never been involved. "We've never participated, I'm not sure how my restaurant ended up on their webpage," he said. "I have an obligation to my customers to serve what they want. That means having both meat and vegetarian options."
Many of those interviewed emphasized the need for consumer choice in the marketplace and said that providing a variety of options to consumers seemed to work best.
"Our residents are 'old school' and enjoy meat with their meals," joked Joan Allison of Princeton General Hospital. "There wasn't a lot of interest throughout the hospital and people were put off by joining the campaign."
Meatless Mondays, according to the alliance, is a carefully orchestrated campaign that seeks to eliminate meat from Americans' meals seven days a week - beginning with Mondays. Organized through the Center for a Livable Future at John Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health, the campaign, which is funded in large part by long-time animal rights activist Helaine Lerner, pushes an extreme animal rights and environmental agenda by promoting false claims about animal agriculture, says the alliance.
"Offering options is always better than alienating consumers by forcing a viewpoint - and diet - upon them," said Johnson Smith. "At the alliance we support consumer choice. People don't like to be forced to do anything. If the Meatless Monday campaign was honest, they would see that their numbers are dwindling and that their extreme viewpoint will ultimately lead to the campaign's demise."

USDA statistical reports returning as government shutdown ends

While the partial U.S. government shutdown and lapse in federal funding has ended and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) statistical reports will return, selected statistical reports impacted by the lapse in federal funding have been cancelled or postponed. The agency is assessing its data collection plans and evaluating the timing of upcoming reports.
The USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service's (NASS) Crop Production and Cotton Ginnings reports and the World Agricultural Outlook Board's World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates, scheduled for October 11, were canceled. The next scheduled release for these reports is November 8. Additionally, the Crop Progress reports scheduled for October 7 and 15 were canceled. NASS's Cattle on Feed and Peanut Prices reports scheduled for October 18 have been postponed.
The USDA website that lists the agency reports was offline during the shutdown. It returned to operation on October 17, but contains a message that asks people to be patient as the site returns to "normal operations."

Discrimination lawsuit against former egg producer DeCoster settled

A lawsuit that accused former egg producer Austin "Jack" DeCoster of discriminating workers based on age, race and national origin has been settled. The terms of the settlement were not released.
Homero Ramirez, a former egg plant manager who was born in Mexico, claimed DeCoster ordered him to hire Mexican-Americans at a Maine facility because they were willing to do dangerous and demeaning work. Ramirez also alleged DeCoster forced him to do humiliating and dangerous tasks and discouraged him from receiving medical care. Additionally, Ramirez claimed DeCoster violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and the federal Family Medical Leave Act, according to an Associated Press report.
DeCoster is no longer active in the egg industry.