Cases of African Swine Fever have been reported throughout Africa, Europe, Russia, and China. Quick to respond, CAHFS created a multimedia toolkit called ASFWatch to educate producers about ASF and what they can do to prevent it from entering the United States.
Swine researcher Pedro Urriola's research includes a multitude of issues such as risk prevention, which focuses on stopping viruses such as African swine fever from infecting pigs through imported feed.
CAHFS has long-standing partnerships with the nation’s leading pork organizations, which each play a crucial role in ensuring global swine health and combating the industry's biggest threats.
In partnership with the Swine Health Information Center and the U of M Swine Group, CAHFS has taken a novel approach to strengthening the United States market against global swine diseases.
Over the last 10,000 years or so, pigs and humans have developed a close relationship. Ever since pigs were first domesticated, swine production has played a key role in sustaining human populations.
Last week, farm advocates, families affected by farmer suicide, and mental health counselors called on Minnesota lawmakers in the House Agriculture, Food Finance, and Policy Committee to fast-track three funding bills for farmer support resources. The bills would provide $150,000 in additional funding through June 2019 for state mental health programs, including training for additional mental health counselors. The bills would also triple the funding for the next two years.
Dr. Kim Dodd will speak at the next Hueston Speaker Series February 28, with the talk "Developing expertise to support the current and expanding mission of the Foreign Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory: the NBAF Scientist Training Program."
A recent study found that a bacteria-derived compound might provide a novel option in protecting against mosquitoes and mosquito-borne diseases. Scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison examined a bacterium called Xenorhabdus budapestensis that lives inside roundworms.
Voters are concerned about how their food is produced and are actively using their votes to make changes. The most recent election cycle brought about another animal welfare voter initiative in California, Proposition 12, which establishes minimum space requirements based on square feet for calves raised for veal, breeding pigs, and egg-laying hens and bans the sale of products from operations that don’t meet the requirements.
The most recent romaine lettuce outbreak, which sickened 62 people in 16 states and the District of Columbia and caused nationwide warnings against any consumption of romaine lettuce, has been declared over by the Centers for Disease Control.
The traceback investigation pointed to farms in the central coast of California as the likely sources of the outbreak. The CDC found the outbreak strain of E. coli 0157:H7 in sediment collected within an agricultural water reservoir on one farm in Santa Barbara County, but the FDA is still investigating how the bacteria could have entered the reservoir, ways in which the romaine lettuce from the farm could have been contaminated, and potential other sources of the outbreak.
