AUSTRALIAN beef has been implicated in a health scare in the United States, and is now the subject of a recall in at least one state.

The Department of Agriculture confirmed yesterday it had received notification from its American equivalent that shipments of Australian beef were believed to be the source of a potentially deadly E. coli contamination detected in ground beef products in the state of South Carolina last week.

Reacting to the US government approaching the global trade body, WTO, against India imposing a ban on US agricultural products, including poultry meat and chicken eggs, the government clarified that it had already revoked the ban on imports from the US last September when it was declared free of avian influenza, a government official said. “We already removed the ban on poultry and poultry products imports from the US in September last year as it was declared free of avian influenza.

President Dilma Rousseff is facing one of the defining moments of her presidency as pressure builds on her to veto a bill that would open vast protected areas of forests to ranching and farming, potentially reversing Brazil’s major gains in slowing Amazon deforestation.

The local administration in Gorkha has banned import of poultry in the district after more than 200 chickens died in Jaubari and Gokhu VDCs recently. Authorities suspect that bird flu may have killed the chickens.

Samples of the dead fowl have been sent to the Capital for tests. As a preemptive measure, the remaining fowls at the two farms were also slaughtered recently. A meeting held at the District Administration Office has decided to inspect the coops for possible infection.

India is third in egg production and fourth in chicken output

Vice Chancellor of the Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (TANUVAS) Dr. R. Prabakaran said that veterinarians have played a major role in placing India atop the world in milk production, third in egg production and fourth in chicken meat production.

Deadly new castle disease has played havoc with the commercial poultry farms by perishing 44.59 million broilers during last five-month, incurring a total loss of about Rs 6 billion in Punjab.

Vice Chancellor of the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS) Prof Dr Talat Naseer Pasha said speaking at a meeting on New Castle Disease and its control held at Syndicate room of UVAS here on Thursday.

Agricultural authorities in northwest China have culled about 95,000 chickens after an outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu virus, state press reported yesterday.

The outbreak in Touying township of the Ningxia region was discovered on Friday last week after over 23,000 chickens began showing symptoms, Xinhua news agency said, citing the Ministry of Agriculture.

The ministry said the "epidemic is now under control", the report said, while work teams have been sent to the area to step up prevention measures.

Farmers and ranchers will for the first time need a prescription from a veterinarian before using antibiotics in farm animals, in hopes that more judicious use of the drugs will reduce the tens of thousands of human deaths that result each year from the drugs’ overuse.

A bird flu outbreak is suspected in Yangbari village in Gongdue, Mongar after 30-40 chicks were reported dead from nine houses last month.

The deaths were reported to the department of livestock on March 27 and the samples are yet to be confirmed positive by the national center for animal health in Serbithang, Thimphu.

Yangbari is about two days official walk from Nanglam and is not connected with electricity or road. Yangbari shares its border with four dzongkhags of Zhemgang, Samdrupjongkhar, Pemagatshel and Mongar.