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Enter Online Salmonella traced to a peanut plant has killed nine people and sickened hundreds, putting the system that safeguards the nation’s food supply in the spotlight again. The jumble of agencies and regulations has long been criticized. But now the idea of streamlining it has support in the president’s Cabinet. When President Obama was asked about the safety of peanut butter during an appearance on NBC’s Today show earlier this month, he expressed the concerns likely shared by families across the nation: “At bare minimum, we should be able to count on our government keeping our kids safe
Pigs unable to stand can be slaughtered for human consumption, Fresno federal judge rules. Pigs that can’t stand up on their own may still be butchered and their meat sold for human consumption despite a state law designed to prevent that, a federal judge ruled Thursday in Fresno. The law, which took effect Jan. 1, made it illegal for anyone to butcher and sell animals too sick to stand. But slaughterhouses argued that the law was too broad and caused meat from healthy animals to go to waste. At issue was whether the state law could take
The state of California has dropped the idea of taxing veterinary services, at least in the near term. A proposed tax on veterinary services was not part of a 17-month budget that the California Legislature passed Feb. 19, three months after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger first called a special session to address the state’s financial emergency. The governor had proposed, as one of many tax hikes, applying state sales taxes to veterinary services for the first time—but the California VMA organized a successful grassroots campaign opposing the measure. “Requiring pet owners to pay a tax to care for
More than one-fifth of veterinarians screened in a study on Q fever had antibodies against the causative Coxiella burnetii, according to a recent article. The text, which will appear in the March 1 edition of Clinical Infectious Diseases, states 113 of the 508 veterinarians tested at the 2006 AVMA Annual Convention in Honolulu carried antibodies against the bacteria. The study has been published online. Information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates most human Q fever outbreaks in the U.S. relate to occupational exposure involving “veterinarians, meat processing plant workers, sheep and dairy workers, livestock farmers,
Schaumburg, Ill. — Americans love their meat. Whether it’s rib eyes, pork chops or chicken breasts, the demand for protein is so great in this country that more than 85 billion pounds of meat and poultry are processed here each year. And we’re not alone. About a quarter of U.S. beef and pork is exported to feed hungry mouths around the world. While China is now the world’s largest consumer of meat, in Mexico, meat consumption has increased by 50 percent since 1990. So who’s helping keep all this food safe? It may surprise many people that
Transactions at small animal practices have been flat or falling during the recent economic downturn, according to statistics from the National Commission on Veterinary Economic Issues and a study by Brakke Consulting. The NCVEI Economy Tracker and Brakke’s study on “Economy and Pet Care” also found that mean transaction charges increased only moderately in 2008. Dr. Karen E. Felsted, NCVEI chief executive officer, said, “Growth in 2008 was quite a bit less than it has been in recent years, and the growth rate declined as you got toward the end of the year.” According to the Brakke
Every small animal practice has its own story about the economic downturn. The stories have common threads, though. Many clients, out of general concern about the economy, are asking for more details about the need for veterinary services. Some clients are not visiting their veterinarians—particularly in areas with job losses. The practices that have continued to grow, if slowly, are either continuing with their current strategies or taking some steps to delay or reduce expenses. Practices with declining revenues have responded with more extensive measures, such as hiring freezes and staff reductions. For the rest of the
Veterinarians who encounter a patient that has eaten peanut butter or peanut-containing products and has signs of a Salmonella infection are encouraged to report the information to their state and send samples. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention asks that suspected or confirmed cases ofSalmonella infection be reported to determine whether an animal is infected with the outbreak strain,Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. This can be done by contacting a regional Food and Drug Administration consumer complaint coordinator. For a state-by-state listing of coordinators, go towww.fda.gov/opacom/backgrounders/complain.html. The CDC also advises reporting any incidence to a state veterinarian or state public health