Sixty-eight chicken, turkey facilities awarded for safety performance

The Joint Industry Safety and Health Council has recognized 68 chicken and turkey facilities for outstanding safety performance through the implementation of innovative and effective safety and health programs.
The annual awards, presented during the 2012 National Safety Conference for the Poultry Industry in Ponte Vedra, Fl., were given based on injury statistics over three years and an evaluation of written applications. Twenty-five facilities received the highest level of recognition, Award of Distinction. The other categories included Award of Honor and Award of Merit. "The industry recognizes that our people are our most valuable asset, and worker safety efforts have never been stronger," said John Starkey, president of the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association. "Poultry companies continue to devote people, time and other resources to actively identify and correct workplace hazards. These awards acknowledge excellent safety performance achievement through effective and innovative programs."
Awards of Distinction went to:

• Butterball LLC
• Cargill Turkey Production LLC
• Cargill Value Added Meats
• Keystone Foods
• Perdue Farms Inc.
• Pilgrim’s Corporation
• Sara Lee Foods
• Simmons Foods
• Wayne Farms LLC
Awards of Honor went to:

• Butterball LLC
• Cargill Turkey Production LLC
• Cargill Value Added Meats
• Cobb-Vantress Inc.
• Gerber Poultry
• Hubbard LLC
• Keystone Foods
• Moroni Feed Company
• Perdue Farms Inc.
• Pilgrim’s Corporation
• Sanderson Farms Inc.
• River Valley Animal Foods
• Virginia Poultry Growers Cooperative
• Wayne Farms LLC
Awards of Merit went to:

• House of Raeford Farms
• Peco Foods Inc.
• Perdue Farms Inc.
• Pilgrim's Corporation

Irish welfare aid restored to pig, poultry producers

Ireland’s minister of agriculture has announced the re-opening of a grant aid scheme run by the Irish government to encourage investment by pig and poultry producers.
The Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme had been suspended earlier in 2011 because of the uncertain budgetary situation in Ireland. The government will make funds available for grant aid to be offered in 2012 towards projects on farms to improve poultry and pig welfare as well as for bioenergy and job creation. Among the applications of TAMS previously had been financial help where pig units needed to change the accommodation of their sows in gestation towards a loose housing arrangement in line with imminent European Union animal welfare requirements.  

Tyson secures alliance with Brazilian poultry breeder Globoaves

Tyson Foods has secured an alliance with the Brazilian poultry breeder Globoaves, of Paraná state, in which the two companies agreed to produce and slaughter 60,000 chickens a day for a year.
Globoaves will be responsible for all of the process of producing the chickens, which will be sold to Tyson and processed in that company's meatpacking plant at Cascavel (PR).With certification to export to the European Union, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Globoaves has been the focus of a dispute between Tyson and Brazilian food company Sadia for at least three years, according to published reports. Now, Globoaves will partner with Tyson, which entered Brazil in 2008, purchasing three small meatpacking companies that slaughter poultry.Tyson has been in contact with Globaves since 2006.
At the time, its aim was to form a joint venture project (and enter the Brazilian market), which was frustrated with the entry of Sadia S.A. into the competition. Sadia wound up signing a two-year contract with Globoaves, which expired on January 7.
According to Globoaves Director-President Roberto Kaefer, the decision not to renew the contract with Sadia was made by the two Brazilian companies.
“For our part, we wanted to be free to operate in whatever way we wanted. In the contract with Sadia, we sold the day-old chicks, but they supplied the corn and used our plants to mix the rations and slaughter the chickens. We charged for providing the service,” said Kaefer. The contract with Tyson brings more advantages, he added.