Dear readers,
Some good news from the pig industry:
- Spanish pig quotation reached the level last seen before the African Swine Fever (ASF)
- A new meat processing plant costing $8 million will be instrumental for farmers located in the area of rural Minnesota, situated to the northwest of Minneapolis, USA. As per a statement from the organization, the Farmers Union Processing + Meats facility located in Staples, Minnesota, will handle the processing of cattle and hogs sourced from producers in the counties of Cass, Crow Wing, Morrison, Todd, and Wadena .The establishment is set to receive USDA certification in July.
- A newly established Level 3 biological containment animal facility has been funded by European resources allocated from the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Facility (RTFF) in Spain .The financial contribution surpasses €35 million and is part of a larger funding initiative worth €54 million from Next Generation EU, which aims to enhance the modernization efforts of the ministry’s three laboratories dedicated to animal and plant health.The newly developed animal facility will span an area of 8,000 square meters, facilitating research into animal diseases while adhering to the strictest standards of biosafety, biocontainment, and bioprotection .Its considerable space will accommodate research involving animals of varying sizes that may harbor pathogens, including foot-and-mouth disease(FMD), ASF, highly pathogenic avian influenza, rabies, and tularemia.
Events calendar:
- Seoul Food & Hotel (SFH) is South Korea’s leading trade fair for the food, beverage, and hospitality industries, and ranks among the most important events of its kind in Asia. The fair will take place on 4 days from Tuesday, 09. June to Friday, 12. June 2026 in Goyang.
- The “Food and Beverage (FAB) West Africa” is a leading trade fair for food and beverages in West Africa, held at the Landmark Centre in Lagos, The FAB will take place on 3 days from Tuesday, 09. June to Thursday, 11. June 2026.
- The Warsaw FOOD Expo is a significant international food fair and one of the most important industry events in Poland. It is held at the renowned Ptak Warsaw Expo in Nadarzyn. The expo takes place on 3 days , from Tuesday 09.06.2026 till Thursday,11.06.2026.
- The Alimentec in Bogota is considered one of the most important trade fairs for the food industry in Colombia and all of Latin America. The fair will take place on 4 days from Tuesday, 09. June to Friday, 12. June 2026.
- The “Africa Food Show” is one of the leading trade exhibitions for the food and beverage industry on the African continent. The Africa Food Show will take place on 3 days from Wednesday, 10. June to Friday, 12. June 2026 in Cape Town.
Hamlet
The need for new laboratory facilities is a painful reality. I wrote last week about a new USA lab, prepared to test screwworms. Well, the parasite just appeared in the USA. In Europe we keep getting news of new outbreaks of FMD or ASF.
Maybe the most staggering news comes from Denmark: while Danish Crown just announced the restructuring of 800 jobs, for the first time in 130 years, Denmark will operate without a dedicated minister for agriculture and food .The responsibilities have now been divided into five distinct areas and assigned to several ministers. The key responsibilities were transferred to the newly established Ministry of Nature and Animal Welfare, which will be overseen by Christian Rabjerg Madsen. His duties will include advancing the ambitious initiative aimed at transforming agricultural land into natural spaces, referred to as the Green Tripartite.
Under the vision of the new administration, enforcement of animal welfare will now fall under the jurisdiction of the justice ministry, which oversees the police .Nicolai Wammen from the Social Democrats is the new minister responsible. The minister for commerce and competition will manage matters related to food supply, health, and safety.The fishing sector, in contrast, will be under the supervision of one of the leading environmental advocates in the country, Maria Reumert Gjerding .An official not elected by the public, she was until Wednesday morning the head of the largest environmental NGO, the Danish Society for Nature Conservation. Beyond the ministry reorganization, the new Danish government’s detailed plan to enforce stricter welfare rules and restrict pork exports is provoking anger within the nation’s renowned industry. Jeppe Bloch Nielsen, chairman of Danish Swine Producers and a pig farmer, expressed his discontent to the news outlet Berlingske regarding the government’s claim that there is an excessive number of pigs being raised. “After all, we are producing more Wegovy than we have individuals suffering from obesity, and we also manufacture more LEGO bricks than we can utilize ourselves,” he stated. “Why are we not permitted to raise more pigs than we can consume?”
Two quotes form Shakespeare’s Hamlet come to my mind:
- “To be or not to be?”
- “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”
