Animals farmed: US ends UK beef ban, chicken culls and 12-storey pig farms

News from around the world

The US has imported British beef for the first time since banning it in 1996 after the BSE outbreak. In 1996, scientists linked BSE found in cattle to variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans. The UK government said the restarted US beef trade could be worth an estimated £66m in export opportunities for farmers over the next five years.

Taiwan is to lift its restrictions on the use of the chemical growth hormone ractopamine in imported pork, opening the door to an increase in US pork meat imports. The ban on its use in domestic animal feed in Taiwan remains. Ractopamine, which can improve growth rates, is banned by almost every country except the US. The Humane Society of the US states that it causes lameness, stiffness, trembling and shortness of breath in animals.

Outbreaks of Covid-19 continue to appear at meat plants with reports of a “significant outbreak” at an Irish plant run by Dawn Meats. Testing had been temporarily suspended at meat plants in Ireland earlier this month because of shortages. Although it would not comment on the reported outbreak, Dawn Meats told the Irish Times that it would inform authorities of any positive tests, pay workers required to self-isolate, and that all its facilities would undergo weekend deep cleaning.

There continue to be a number of outbreaks at food plants in the UK too. At least 400,000 chickens had to be culled after outbreaks of Covid-19 among staff at poultry plants in England and Scotland disrupted slaughterhouse routines.

In the US, Smithfield Foods is reported to have been handed a $13,000 (£10,200) fine from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Osha) for failing to protect employees at one of the largest pork plants in the country, after nearly 1,300 workers contracted Covid-19 and four died. Smithfield was forced to temporarily shut down the plant in South Dakota. The company dismissed Osha’s findings as without merit and said it would contest them.

Fast-growing broiler chickens reared for meat have been linked to poorer animal welfare outcomes for the birds, including lack of mobility, muscle damage and inadequate organ development. The two-year study of different types of birds concluded that the animal’s welfare was compromised when chickens were grown faster for higher yields of breast meat.

Germany’s outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) continues to spread, creating panic among the pig sector as authorities try to contain the disease. China, Japan and Brazil have already banned imports of pork from Germany, which is the EU’s biggest producer. Meanwhile, UK pig exports have increased hugely on the back of record demand from China, which itself has been badly hit by its own outbreak of ASF during the past two years. China is encouraging a massive expansion in its pig sector as it seeks to recover from the outbreak, which led to the death of almost half its national herd.

An unusually strong and long-lasting thunderstorm – called a derecho – has destroyed more than one-third of the state of Iowa’s corn harvest. Farmers were forced to evacuate livestock as buildings were torn down. With estimates of almost $4bn in damages, the storm has been one of the costliest thunderstorm events of the past decade.

News from the UK

Antibiotic usage in the UK’s poultry meat sector rose for the second year running – although there has been a reported reduction in the use of critically important antibiotics. According to the British Poultry Council, UK poultry meat producers have stopped all preventative treatments and the highest priority antibiotics that are critically important for humans are used only as a last resort for chickens and turkeys.

Lake District-based sheep farmer and bestselling author James Rebanks has called for a national rethink about how we farm in the UK. He said all diets, whether vegan, vegetarian or carnivore, can have negative ecological consequences if not produced sustainably. He has called for consumers to “demand changes to our laws that raise our standards and encourage progressive change on farms” and oppose a US trade deal “that would drive things to be much, much worse”.

Sheep farmers in the UK may be able to make more money by replacing their livestock with forest, according to new research. The study calculated that most sheep farms in the UK make a loss without government subsidies, with only the most productive breaking even. The authors found that farmers could turn a profit if they allowed land to naturally regenerate and sold credits for the carbon dioxide the forest absorbed.

New Zealand and UK lamb producers are continuing to argue over post-Brexit trade arrangements. The UK is the third largest export destination for New Zealand lamb in a trade worth £249m a year. New Zealand producers want a UK-only quota and not one split between the UK and the EU. UK producers are already concerned about post-Brexit trade arrangements as they are heavily reliant on exports. Recent reports have suggested the UK government will compensate sheep farmers in event of a no-deal Brexit.

There has been better news for one Cheshire sheep farmer whose Texel ram named Double Diamond sold for a world record sum of 350,000 guineas (£367,500). Texels rams can father fast-growing lambs, according to the Texel Sheep Society, that do well in sparsely vegetated uplands and even better on lowland pasture.

Related: Farm animals and pandemics: nine diseases that changed the world

From the Animals farmed series

We’ve had a week-long focus on pandemics on Animals farmed, including a first-hand account of how bird flu hit a US turkey farm, a warning from meat inspectors about disease risk in plants, and explorations into how scientists are trying to track where the next animal-borne viruses will appear and how the farming industry in China seems to think a 12-storey pig plant is the answer to tackling animal disease.

We also produced this amazing graphic listing the major human disease outbreaks linked to farm animals in the past two centuries.

In an exclusive interview, US Senator Cory Booker, who ran for the democratic presidential nomination earlier this year, has called the way Americans raise animals “a betrayal of the heritage of our grandparents”. He said: “Everybody is losing in this system – except for the massive corporations that have taken over the American food system.” Last month, we reported on a worrying link between cattle farming and E coli infections that have resulted in 200 Americans being sent to hospital since 2018.

We reported on yet another live exports tragedy, with the sinking of a vessel carrying more than 40 crew members and nearly 6,000 cattle. It sank off the coast of Japan en route to China from New Zealand, which has now suspended live cattle exports.

In an exclusive investigation, the Guardian has discovered that more than 60 million chickens in England and Wales have been rejected over disease and defects, which campaigners say highlights poor conditions in Britain’s poultry sector.

We ran this heartwarming piece about a care farm project helping young people with a range of troubles like Jordan, who admits he was a “pain in the arse with a fiery temper” when he was younger. It’s both sad and uplifting and has some beautiful photos too.

Finally, we wish to pass on our condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Tony Corbo, who passed away this month. Tony was the Washington lobbyist for the NGO Food and Water Watch, working extensively on food safety, consumer safety and worker health. Most recently, he had been at the centre of campaigns on worker safety and Covid-19 hotspots linked to meat processing plants in the US. “The pandemic has shone a light on the meat industry where for years workers have been exploited,” Tony told us in May this year.

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