testing Archives - Page 2 of 3

This file photo shows a rack of blood samples being tested for bovine tuberculosis in New Zealand dairy cattle. (Lakeview_Images/iStock/Getty Images)

More bovine TB cases found in Saskatchewan herd

Herd now depopulated, one separate contact herd identified

By Dave Bedard, GFM Network News July 14, 2023

Corrected, July 14 — Postmortem testing of a Saskatchewan cattle herd culled after turning up three confirmed cases of bovine tuberculosis (TB) has yielded six more cases. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), which is tasked with testing the infected herd, said Thursday that as of July 12, a total of eight cases of bovine […] Read more

A mobile biomass densification system, developed at PAMI in Portage la Prairie and shown here in a 2012 video, was used to process biomass such as straw into solid blocks, for ease of transport or for use in biomass burners. (BioScience Association Manitoba video screengrab via YouTube)

Crops, Machinery

PAMI to close Portage la Prairie location

Revenue challenges in recent years blamed for Manitoba site's closure

By GFM Network News June 20, 2022

The product development, testing and design firm Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute (PAMI), will be closing its Portage la Prairie, Man. location at the end of July. Citing revenue challenges in recent years as the reason for downsizing, the institute informed staff and clients of the closure of its River Road facility in Portage, prior to […] Read more

An image created by Nexu Science Communication, together with Trinity College in Dublin, shows a model structurally representative of a betacoronavirus, the type of virus linked to COVID-19. (Nexu Science Communication via Reuters)

General, Reuters

Canada to ease travel requirements as COVID cases decline

By GFM Network News February 15, 2022

Updated — Ottawa | Reuters — Canada will ease entry for fully vaccinated international travelers starting Feb. 28 as COVID-19 cases decline, allowing a rapid antigen test for travelers instead of a molecular one, officials said Tuesday. Antigen tests are cheaper than a molecular test and can provide results within minutes. The new measures, which […] Read more

A view near the Canadian end of the Ambassador Bridge, which connects Windsor and Detroit and is considered one of North America’s busiest trade routes. (Steven_Kriemadis/iStock/Getty Images)

General, Reuters

U.S. border reopens to Canadian land travelers

Travel business sees 'tremendous pent-up demand'

By Reuters, GFM Network News November 8, 2021

Toronto | Reuters — A steady stream of Canadian visitors, particularly retirees headed to U.S. sun spots, crossed the U.S. border by car on Monday for the first time in 20 months as Washington lifted travel restrictions. Traffic was heavy at times at some U.S. border posts such as Bluewater Bridge, Michigan near Sarnia, Ont., […] Read more

File photo of uncooked chicken wings. (Mimadeo/iStock/Getty Images)

Livestock, Poultry/Eggs

COVID outbreak shuts Nova Scotia poultry plant

Province closes Eden Valley for at least two weeks

By Dave Bedard, GFM Network News December 12, 2020

Provincial officials have temporarily shut a chicken and turkey slaughter and processing plant in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley, citing recent cases of COVID-19 among employees. Eden Valley Poultry’s processing plant at Berwick will be closed “for at least two weeks,” the provincial health department said in a release Friday. “We know this will be a […] Read more

Beef is on display at a Walmart in Beijing on Sept. 23, 2019. (File photo: Reuters/Tingshu Wang)

Beef Cattle, Livestock, Markets, Reuters

China’s coronavirus testing chokes beef trade

Additional inspections, disinfections costly for importers

By GFM Network News November 27, 2020

Beijing | Reuters — In a supermarket in downtown Beijing, refrigerator shelves normally filled with steak from around the world sit empty as tougher testing for the novel coronavirus creates supply bottlenecks and raises prices for importers. Fresh supplies of beef won’t arrive for days, a salesman at the Suning.com-owned Carrefour outlet told Reuters — […] Read more

Beef Cattle, Livestock

Bovine TB probe wraps with no exact point of entry found

'More stringent' tests now being run on U.S. rodeo cattle imports

By Dave Bedard, GFM Network News August 13, 2020

Federal inspectors have formally closed the book on a 2018 outbreak of bovine tuberculosis (TB) in a British Columbia cattle herd, but with “no definitive source of infection” found. The probe dates back to October that year, when a beef cow of an unknown age, from a cow-calf operation in B.C.’s southern Interior, was culled, […] Read more

A customer shops at a pork meat hall at the Yuegezhuang wholesale market in Beijing on June 17, 2020. (Photo: Reuters/Tingshu Wang)

General, Markets, Reuters

Food exporters to China asked to declare produce coronavirus-free

Declaration puts onus on exporters for product safety

By GFM Network News June 19, 2020

Beijing | Reuters — China’s customs authority has asked food exporters to the country to sign a declaration their produce is not contaminated by the novel coronavirus, three people who received a letter said on Friday. The declaration, seen by Reuters, may be an effort by China to reduce the additional testing it has carried […] Read more

SGS’s cereals lab in Guelph at its official opening in 2016. (SGS.com)

Crops

Inspections group SGS to slim workforce

By GFM Network News July 18, 2019

Geneva | Reuters — Swiss inspections group SGS plans to trim its workforce by 2,000 across about 120 countries in a process of natural attrition rather than sudden cuts or corporate restructuring, company spokesman Daniel Rufenacht said on Thursday. CEO Frankie Ng was earlier quoted by Swiss newspapers Handelszeitung and Tribune de Geneve as saying […] Read more

A macrophage (immune response) cell in early stages of infection with African swine fever virus, magnified about 1,000x. (Keith Weller photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Hogs, Livestock, Reuters

U.S. to begin testing sick and dead pigs for African swine fever

By GFM Network News May 16, 2019

Chicago | Reuters — The U.S. Department of Agriculture within weeks will begin testing sick and dead pigs for a hog virus that has killed herds across Asia in an effort to minimize devastation if the disease enters the United States, the agency said on Thursday. Increased testing aims to help U.S. officials detect cases […] Read more

U.S. livestock: Hog futures hit contract highs on shock herd decline

Alberta Crop Report: Harvest more than three-quarters finished

NFU says proposed plant breeders’ rights come at farmers’ expense

GFM Network News