Meat+Poultry - January 2024 - 10

BUSINESS NOTES
New beef plant proposed in SC
A new meat processing operation is
coming to Laurens County, SC, according
to the office of South Carolina Governor
Henry McMaster. Tomahawk Processing
LLC is investing $5 million in the new beef
plant in Laurens.
" We look forward to partnering with
South Carolina producers to help bring
local beef direct to consumers, " explained
Platt Moore, managing partner for
Tomahawk Processing.
Tomahawk Processing plans to build
a state-of-the-art, federally inspected
processing plant that will provide beef
processing and packing services to
producers in the area. It will offer private
label packaging so producers can sell
their products in South Carolina and to
customers in other states.
" The lack of in-state processing
capacity is probably the No. 1 concern
I hear from beef producers in South
Carolina, so this project is a big deal, "
said Hugh Weaters, South Carolina's
commissioner of agriculture. " This
qualified team with South Carolina roots
will help strengthen the agribusiness
industry in our state. "
Poultry growers
decrease
antibiotic use
New research released on
Dec. 11 indicates further
improved antibiotic
stewardship and
commitment to disease
prevention within poultry
production, announced
the US Poultry & Egg
Association.
Randall Singer, DVM,
PhD, from Mindwalk
Consulting Group LLC
and the University
of Minnesota led the
project. The report
represents a 10-year
set of data collected
from 2013 to 2022 for
US broiler chickens
and turkeys as well as
a seven-year set of data
collected from 2016 to
2022 for layers.
One key finding
Hong Kong culls 900 pigs over ASF outbreak
Officials in Hong Kong decided to cull 900
pigs after African swine fever (ASF) was
detected on a farm in its New Territories
district. According to the Agriculture, Fish
and Conservation Department (AFCD), 19
of 30 pigs tested positive for the ASF virus.
Animal health officials also immediately
suspended transportation of any pigs from
the affected farm to prevent the spread of
the disease.
10 MEAT+POULTRY | 01.24 | www.meatpoultry.com
" AFCD staff has arranged to inspect
the other eight pig farms within three
kilometers of the index farm and will
collect pig samples for ASF testing, "
AFCD said. " For the sake of prudence,
the AFCD has also temporarily suspended
movements of pigs on these farms until
further notice. No reports of abnormalities
from pig farms outside the three-kilometer
zone have been received so far. "
among broiler chickens
is the number of
chickens receiving
antibiotics over the 20132022
period decreased
from 90% to less than
1%. Medically important
in-feed antibiotic use in
broilers also dropped
significantly. There was
no reported in-feed
tetracycline use from
2020 to 2022, and
virginiamycin use fell
97% over the 10-year
period. Medically
important water-soluble
antibiotic use saw a
substantial drop from
2013-2017 and has
increased slightly since
then. The report noted
that increases were
typically due to risen
disease incidence during
the 2019-2022 period.
chayakorn-stock.adobe.com
http://www.meatpoultry.com
Meat+Poultry - January 2024

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