Pork Journal January/February 2015

porkjournal www.primarymedia.com.au

Volume 37 Issue 1

January/February2015

Colin Fassnidge will be the ambassador for Australian Festival of Pork

Choosing a reliable mycotoxin binder

Country of Origin Labelling hits the headlines

2015 SA Pig Industry Day

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Volume 37 Issue 1

Award winning chef Colin Fassnidge

January/February 2014

EDITOR:

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JOURNALIST/PHOTOGRAPHER PRODUCTION EDITOR

Peter Bedwell Alex Bedwell

Rosemary Embery

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Alex Bedwell

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NEWS Page 4: Country of Origin Labelling hits the headlines Page 8: Tanya Nowland recieves Lienerts scholarship Page 10: Colin Fassnidge will be the ambassador for Australian Festival of Pork in March 2015 Page 12: Highly accredited global cleaning enterprise contributes to better food safety Page 14: 2015 SA Pig Industry Day focuses on ‘Current Issues and Future Opportunities’ Page 18: Manu Feildel extends partnreship with Murray Valley Pork for third year Page 18: Bridget Dunn Memorial Award Page 19: Simons Green Energy a new comer at the Victorian Pig Fair NUTRITION FEATURE Page 20: Choosing a reliable mycotoxin binder

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NEWS

Country of Origin Labelling hits the headlines The revelation that at least 19 people may have caught Hepatitis A from frozen berries grown and/or processed in China was getting almost as much attention in the media as the Prime Minister’s leadership issues at the end of February.

In fact comments by Mr Abbott on the imported frozen berries and Hepatitus A issue was that, “changing labelling laws was a costly and complex business leading to more ‘red tape’ and that it was the clear duty of businesses not to poison their customers”.

As more of the complexities of the issue were revealed – that berries may have come from not only China, but also Chile or even Turkey though processed in China, Mr Abbott and senior ministers Ian McFarlane and Barnaby Joyce were involved and asked to prepare submissions to cabinet on labelling and food safety issues.

A realisation therefore, that this was in fact, a serious matter.

The diminished staff of ABC’s rural networks as well as ABC Radio National, did a splendid job of reporting on the issue.

Perhaps most chilling was the interview conducted on Friday February 27 by ABC RN’s Fran Kelly with the CEO of Patties Foods, a supplier of the products believed to have been contaminated at some stage in the production process.

Steve Chaur explained the complexities of the supply situation in that consumer demand for berries has increased by more than 40% per annum in the last year and that as a seasonal product it was impossible to source berries from Australia alone.

“Berries from Chile, China, Turkey and Vietnam were sent to China for processing into the frozen berry products that had become popular with Australian consumers,” he said.

As to the source of the Heptatitis A infection, this had not been determined and because there is no capacity to test for the virus in food in Australia, his company had to rely on testing in Italy and/or the US which would take some time,” he explained.

On testing for other contaminants like E Coli (which could reveal the presence of fecal matter) his company, though only obliged to test 5% of product entering the company, did test 20% to try and ensure safety standards.

Though the media seem to have

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Minister for Agriculture Barnaby Joyce is involved in the food labelling discussion. decided that China is the point of contamination, the fact that berries from at least four different sources are used, begs the question that contamination may have occurred elsewhere.

This episode of a serious health threat to Australian consumers has some time to run before all the facts are known, but it is worth studying the root causes of this health scare.

Firstly, berries are a seasonal fruit and in the past have been a luxury enjoyed by consumers as local growers, in the case of Australia, located in cooler climate regions like Tasmania, sold fresh fruit in traditional retail outlets – usually at premium prices.

The popularity of various berries with their perceived anti-oxidant properties attracted the attention of savvy retailers who realised that consumers would be prepared to pay if not high, but at least premium prices for year round access.

Further new snap chilling and freezing technologies, combined with faster and more efficient transport, including airfreight, made frozen berries a global product both at the supply and demand points.

Frozen berries are just one product example of a globalised food chain that can supply consumers with what were by virtue of season or cost,

unobtainable to the majority of the population.

Truffles, caviar, and of course turning this question to our own industry, jambon or prosciutto are other examples of high-end food produce whose qualities are often extolled by an ever-increasing number of celebrity chefs and food commentators.

Then there is the question of free trade or at least the reduction of barriers to imports from countries that we want to sell more of our agricultural products to like China, South Korea and Japan.

It must be remembered that while the finger of blame over the Hep A outbreak seems to be pointed at China, cherry growers in Australia’s major source of berries, Tasmania, have in recent times air freighted significant quantities of cherries to China’s top tables.

More investigation is required but it would be embarrassing indeed if China was found not to be the primary source of the virus.

The rapid globalisation of food and the ever-increasing proliferation of valuable niche food products may have caught our previously effective safety evaluation protocols on the hop.

Labelling is only part of the question – in fact the push for more information on food products sold in an ever more

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competitive retail environment, may be a direct result of consumers losing faith in what has been for many years very effective food safety standards and protocols.

We must therefore improve our inspection and biosecurity regimes, particularly for imported food items.

Kate Carnell, previously an ACT chief minister and now CEO of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, speaking on ABC radio on February 28, explained the complexities of a comprehensive country of origin labeling scheme.

“Apart from the costs, the need to update information during production runs to identify prime sources of product would be mind boggling,” she said and the case of berries with five countries or more being prime sources of raw materials clearly emphasises her point.

Obviously the ACCI is a lobby group for manufacturers and they don’t want their lives to be any more complicated than they are already but we are facing a problem that needs a decisive approach and all parties, growers, manufacturers, retailers and yes – even consumers have to come to some mutually agreed protocols.

What is the relevance of this food health threat to pork and the Australian market in particular?

Recently well known smallgoods manufacturer Primo was sold to the world’s biggest meat growing and processing company, Brazilian based JBS for (breathe in) $1.45 billion – not bad for a business that started a generation ago in a single shop on the

Parramatta Road in Sydney!

Now an outfit like JPS didn’t part with a sum of that significance to increase market share in a country with just 23.5 million happy campers, no matter how well they are remunerated (or not).

Now our ability to grow and value add through companies like Primo and indeed other growing smallgoods enterprises like Sunshine Meats (see November/December Pork Journal) offers real opportunities.

Branding is a critical issue here as Primo, for instance is a recognised branded product, which gives it added value in the supermarket fridge or deli.

Revesby based Sunshine Meats, a growing brand with a wide and increasing range of pork and poultry based products, makes good use of the pink (and very visible) Australian Pork label for its award winning ham and other pork products – it’s a simple way to gain home market advantage.

Also the consumer doesn’t have to reach for the glasses to read a complex

Importer fined for ham scam A ham scam has netted an importer and his company a $25,000 fine for breaching Australia’s strict importing requirements.

Perth-based Topas Pty Ltd and its Director, Paqualino Licastro, breached strict conditions of their import permit by importing ham from unapproved regions in Italy in 2011.

The company was fined $22,000 and Mr Licastro was fined $3000 for offences in relation to the importation of 2241 kilograms of Parma leg ham in a sea freight consignment.

Department of Agriculture’s First Assistant Secretary of Compliance, Raelene Vivian, said the prosecution sent a strong message to businesses

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and individuals who knowingly breach Australian biosecurity laws.

“After breaching their import permit Topas, and Mr Licastro, then failed to act on a directive from the department to move the ham to a coldstore facility,” Ms Vivian said.

“Products containing animal or plant material may carry exotic pests or disease which could have devastating impacts on human, animal and plant health.

“That’s why these requirements are critical – for instance if Foot-and-Mouth disease were to enter Australia it would cost the economy more than $50 billion over 10 years.”

The department ordered that the

information panel on the product when shopping!

These quality smallgoods products would sell in many markets besides Australia: strong food safety protocols within Australia must lead to consumer confidence in other markets where regulation and safety monitoring is neither as comprehensive or strenuously applied.

Like it or not, being close to the penguins ‘down under’ does not exclude or indeed protect us from a global food marketing system.

As part of that system we have to participate and yes maybe look to getting our own house in order.

Elsewhere in this issue we report on an international organisation called Ecowize that offers cleaning and food safety management systems which are all part of internationally recognised HCCP protocols – sometimes food manufacturers may need to employ outside sourced help to ensure accidents like the berry episode don’t happen to them. ham be held pending sampling and testing for staphylococcus, listeria, E.coli and salmonella before it could be sold or distributed.

“Despite this directive, the company sold 220 kilograms of the ham to retailers without the required testing,” Ms Vivian said.

“Topas Pty Ltd has been punished for knowingly breaching our import and food control requirements.

“As this case shows, we have a zero tolerance approach to companies and individuals who engage in unlawful conduct – and we will take action against them.

“We have a shared responsibility to minimise the impacts of biosecurity threats which is why honest import declarations and having the necessary import permits are not only a legal requirement, but a biosecurity must.”

RRA/MSD16443

AU/OSW/0215/0001

THE SCIENCE OF HEALTHIER ANIMALS

NEWS Tanya Nowland receives Lienerts scolarship University of Adelaide Animal Science graduate Tanya Nowland was announced as the recipient of the 2015 Ronald J Lienert Memorial Scholarship

by Nick Lienert at the SA Pig Industry Day dinner, held at Tanunda in February.

This prestigious scholarship is funded by the SA Pig Industry to support a student enrolled fulltime in an Honours program at the University of Adelaide’s Roseworthy Campus, with their research component focused on an aspect of the pig industry.

The Scholarship was established by the SA industry to perpetuate the memory of Ronald Lienert, OAM. Ronald is remembered by the state and national pig industry through his contribution to industry agropolitical issues, his membership of industry boards and committees, his establishment of Lienert Australia within agribusiness and his impact on the genetic improvement of the Australian pig herd.

Selection of the successful Scholarship recipient is made according to a combination of academic merit, demonstrated interest or past experience in the pork industry or animal agriculture and the university’s approval of a pork industry Honours program of relevance and value to the South Australian pork industry.

Tanya Nowland completed her Bachelor of Animal Science degree at Roseworthy Campus in 2014. During the 2014/15 summer, she completed an Australian Pork Ltd sponsored Undergraduate Industry Placement Award at Greg and Diana Parson’s Mallee Park Piggery, Port Vincent, SA. This experience sparked Tanya’s interest in pig science and production and convinced her to remain at Roseworthy Campus to undertake her 2015 Honours program.

Her Honours research project will focus on attempting to improve the survival of low birth weight, anoxic piglets through the oral/nasal administration of melatonin and/or caffeine shortly after birth to improve piglet vigour and reduce the risk of death through low colostrum intake and overlay.

Her trials will be conducted at the University’s 300-sow Roseworthy Piggery.

Earlier during the SA Pig Industry Day, 2014 Ronald J Lienert Scholarship recipient Jemma Seyfang presented

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LtoR: Chris and Adam Lienert, Tanya Nowland and Nick Lienert at the RLMS presentation which took place during the evening dinner. findings from her 2014 Honours project which focused on the value of HCG supplementation of weaned sows to maintain early pregnancy during periods of heat stress and associated low daily feed intakes.

Jemma graduated with her Bachelor

in Animal Science in 2013, Honours in 2014 and has now re-enrolled in 2015 at Roseworthy Campus into a PhD program looking into pre-parturient factors influencing sow behaviour and aggression in later life within grouphoused accommodation.

AusScan Online now available A new online platform, known as AusScan Online, is set to revolutionise feed ingredient near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) calibrations, thanks to a licensing agreement between the Cooperative Research Centre for High Integrity Australian Pork (Pork CRC) and Aunir.

According to Pork CRC CEO, Dr Roger Campbell and Aunir Technical Director, Chris Piotrowski, AusScan Online users no longer need to load the calibrations onto their NIR machine and can now upload spectra files to the new website and run the calibrations over the internet.

“But the most exciting aspect is AusScan’s ability to offer access to its wide range of in vivo energy calibrations for pigs, broilers and ruminants,” they said.

“Results will be delivered to the user

via the website, where they can review previous results and trend their data.

And the good news is they will only pay for what they need.”

Aunir will also maintain and update the calibrations to ensure users enjoy access to the very best information to suit their businesses and operational needs.

The expected usual proximate analyses will be offered, plus a range of non-starch polysaccharide and amino acid analyses, including total, reactive and standardised ileal digestible lysine.

Users of AusScan Online can analyse their wheat, barley, sorghum, triticale, soya and canola samples via the website.

A full list of available calibrations can be found on the Aunir website at www.aunir.co.uk/products/ausscan-online.

NEWS Colin Fassnidge will be the ambassador for Australian Festival of Pork in March 2015 People will be encouraged to try something new as they put more pork on their forks this PorkFest.

The annual five-week Australian Festival of Pork gets underway this month, encouraging people to expand their recipe repertoire with new pork dishes.

PorkFest will run from March 22 to April 25, with award-winning chef and pork aficionado, Colin Fassnidge, as ambassador.

Four pork cuts will feature during the festival and Colin has prepared recipes featuring these for people to cook at home.

Australian Pork Limited Marketing Manager, Mitch Edwards, said Colin was the perfect ambassador.

“Colin has a passion for pork, it’s one of his favourite ingredients,” Mr Edwards said.

“We’re pleased he’s agreed to come on board and be the face of this campaign.

Colin, who runs restaurants 4Fourteen and Four in Hand, has been part of the PorkStar program for a number of years and his involvement in PorkFest was another natural fit.

Colin has developed recipes featuring the pork loin roast with crackling, shoulder, loin chop and mince for PorkFest, with the recipes to be revealed when the campaign gets underway on March 22.

Gourmet Traveller’s Pat Nourse describes Colin as “the poet of pork and he has recently released his first cookbook, Four’s Kitchens Colin is currently in his third year as a guest judge on Channel 7’s top-rating program, My Kitchen Rules and his two-part TV show, Colin’s Ireland, will air this year.

“PorkFest is both a celebration and an opportunity for providing people with new recipe ideas to help them expand their repertoire and have some fun,” said Mitch Edwards.

“Colin has created dishes perfect for this time of year, as the weather cools down and people gather for Easter.”

Butchers, supermarkets, restaurants and pubs are on board for the festival, promoting pork in store and serving up beautiful Australian pork.

Colin’s recipes will be available from butchers and www.pork.com.au

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Award winning chef, Colin Fassnidge will be the ambassador for PorkFest.

Primo Smallgoods presented with award by Danish Crown Paul Lederer, Chairman of Primo Smallgoods, was recently presented with the diploma of the Danish Export Association and the honorary medal of His Royal Highness Prince Henrik.

This took place at a ceremony in Sydney with participation of among others Børge Petersen, the Danish Ambassador to Australia and Kjeld Johannesen, CEO of Danish Crown.

“Paul Lederer was presented with the award for his importance to the export of Danish meat to Australia since his first contact with Danish Crown in

1996,” said Kjeld Johannesen.

“Paul Lederer has led a large part of development of trading between Denmark and Australia.”

Primo Smallgoods was established in 1985.

Since then the company has expanded from 38 employees in the first year to 4,000 today making it Australia’s largest meat corporation.

Danish Crown supplies the company with at least 1,500 tonnes per month which is used to make bacon and ham.

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COMPANY FEATURE

Highly accredited global cleaning enterprise contributes to better food saftey With nearly 25 years of experience, Ecowize is a leading provider of cleaning services to the food industry with operations in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the USA. In Australia the company is trusted by well known and recognised brands in the food industry including key operators in the broiler meat industry.

Recently Pork Journal was invited to speak to Ecowize Australia’s Business Development Manager David Clark and Marketing and Sales Executive Milos Glisic on the practice of internationally recognised cleaning and food safety programs.

“Just having industry experience is not enough, our practices and services have to comply with globally recognised certification programs,” David said.

“We work with industries whose products are sold in key export markets and our customers need to demonstrate to their customers that the highest standards are established and recognised.

“Food safety must be the foundation and objective of any cleaning program.

“The standard of cleaning in the food industry has risen significantly over the last few years,” David said.

“This means that there are now increasing challenges for food production facilities to meet the requirements relating to hygiene and sanitation in order to pass audits, especially export (United States Department of Agriculture), Coles, Woolworths and other standard audits.

“To ensure that strict hygiene and sanitation requirements are consistently met, Ecowize Group has become the first cleaning solutions provider in the food industry to be accredited with Food safety ISO 22000.

“The standards, processes and procedures which we abide by ensure that our client’s facilities are always audit ready. ”For a cleaning program to be successful it must be effective and consistent.

“A successful cleaning program designed to pass audits must have systems, processes and procedures that ensure it is successful every time,” David said.

“Certification with ISO 9001 is testament to the fact that Ecowize

12

Group has in place systems that ensure the cleaning program specifically designed to the requirements of our clients facilities is efficient and effective every time.

“Workplace safety, particularly in food processing plants is of critical importance both to us and our customers and is amongst the first concerns expressed by existing and potential clients,” Milos said.

“The Ecowize Group takes workplace safety very seriously and that is why we are accredited with AS/NSZ 4801 in addition to OHSAS 18001/2007.

“Workplace accidents resulting in injuries and associated lost time have an enormous emotional as well as financial impact on any business,” he pointed out.

“The workplace standards the Ecowize Group abides by, ensure that any workplace we operate in is a safe environment.

“We proactively manage workplace risks, minimising the chances of injuries occurring and protecting our client’s facility from loss of production, financial loss and emotional trauma.

“Apart from demonstrating through our internationally recognised accreditations that Ecowize ‘can do the job’ as required by our customers we have to make sure that they remain satisfied.

“In March 2014 Ecowize engaged The Market Intelligence Co. to independently conduct the globally recognised Net Promoter Score survey.

“The results were positive and the positive feedback from clients was complemented by identifying areas for improvement,” Milos explained.

As to the question “How can you specifically help companies involved with poultry production seek new markets?” David pointed out that Ecowize had already proved itself working with beef industry processors who had to comply with the demanding standards of the USDA. “If export opportunities arise, possibly for specialist niche market products like duck for instance, or pre-prepared packaged products using poultry or pork meat, our accreditation standards combined with an internationally recognized track record will definitely deliver confidence

Ecowize Managing Director Peter Maibom with certifications. The company has become the first cleaning solutions provider in the food industry to be accredited with Food safety ISO 22000. to overseas buyers.

“Food safety has become a critical issue, if not the critical issue in major potential markets, particularly those located in the growing Asian economies,” David replied.

When Pork Journal visited Ecowize, the frozen berries Hep A episode was yet to be revealed but we did discuss the need for local food manufacturers using raw materials from both domestic and imported meat to be ultra vigilant in maintaining food safety standards.

Processed pork products like ham, bacon and smallgoods are manufactured in Australia from both locally grown and imported pig meat so supply chain audit and management becomes absolutely critica;, not only to protect consumers but the value and reputation of the brands they favour at the supermarket.

“We think that we can help our clients not only maintain food safety in the domestic market, but also use our multiple accredited skills as a tool to develop overseas sales,” David concluded.

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NEWS

2015 SA Pig Industry Day focuses on ‘Current Issues and Future Opportunities’

By GRAEME POPE, Graeme Pope Consulting, Nuriootpa SA Around 120 industry stakeholders – producers, agribusiness, processors and students – attended the 2015 SA Pig Industry Day, held in Tanunda on February 27.

The focus throughout the event’s seminar program was clearly on ‘Future Prospects – Markets, Technologies and Competitors’, a deliberate approach taken by Pork SA’s organising committee to update industry with latest information regarding profitability, future opportunities and prospects.

All nine session speakers brought their specific perspectives forward on the future production, marketing and consumption of pork, both within domestic and international markets.

Following the official welcome by Pork SA chairperson Matt Starick, presentations were chaired by Drs Darryl D’Souza, APL and Roger Campbell, Pork CRC. APL’s Peter Haydon concentrated on recent trends and developments in pork marketing.

“Domestically, we have got demand for your pork where we want it, with demand ahead of supply and pork price to consumers trending upwards, compared to other fresh meats,” he said.

“Pork exports are starting to grow except into Singapore, with import volumes flattened. We expect growth in pork volume marketed as semiready meals, where the consumer can follow cooking instructions on the product’s packaging. Annual fresh pork consumption at December, 2014 was 9.48kg/capita”.

“With regard to our messages in pork advertising, we can show consumers are aware of the attributes of eating pork in terms of its fat and iron content, and we are getting repeat purchase behaviour based on this,” he added.

“Total fresh meat sales over the Christmas period had been declining over the last three years, so we refocused our advertising for four weeks on traditional roasts and pork crackling.

All other meat sectors declined during this period in 2014 except pork, so this proved we need to remind or trigger

14

our ‘might buy pork’ consumers into purchasing action,” he said.

“Our major advertising push to show consumers how to cook pork loin following the 6-2-2 message has been successful. Seventy percent of consumers can now recall the advertising, 19% tried to implement it and 97% say they will try it again.

“We know we get pork purchasing if we back it with advertising plus point of sale stickers, recipe cards and in-store demonstrations.

“With regards to international markets for Australian pork, China is huge,” Peter said. “China eats in 58 hours the volume of pork we eat in a whole year!

“To enter this market, we will be pushing Aussie pork as a premium product into a specific consumer market that can afford to buy it.”

Mark McKenzie, Rivalea spoke on future markets for branded pork products and implications for on-farm production.

“Rivalea has a diverse customer base in retail supermarkets, butchers, smallgoods processors and food service,” he said.

“We have about two years to get things right and increase our volume share against a forecast rising price for beef.

“To do this, we need to differentiate our Rivalea pork from commodity market pork. The product attributes we are presenting are around pork taste, convenience, health and wellbeing, economy and value.

“Boar taint is a major impediment to growing pork sales volume and we need to eliminate this to avoid consumers having a bad eating experience,” Mark said.

“Our branded product needs to be easy to buy, prepare and cook, but as processors we also need to be mindful of what yield loss costs us when trimming carcase fat.

“The appearance of fat on pork is our biggest health and wellbeing issue.

We need to be more efficient at growing a leaner and heavier pig, so we can justify taking fat and maybe rind off,” he said.

Top: Peter Haydon from APL concentrated on recent trends in pork marketing. Above: Dr Darryl D’Souza from APL provided an update from Europe on sow stall free housing.

Andrew Spencer, APL, commented further on developments within the China pork market.

“Most major food groups are targeting the emerging Chinese market with its huge population and growing wealth,” he said.

“China produces one hundred times more pigs than we do, in a market where personal affluence is increasing

NEWS and food safety issues are on the rise.

“China sees Australian pork as a safe, healthy food so we have to explore this market. One impediment is that our beef and dairy are better known than our pork, so we need to develop our import protocols and get known in this market.

“Other major pork exporting countries are looking to do the same as us, so it’s about first developing a boutique position within this market, with the expectation that higher volumes will follow,” Andrew added.

Dr Roger Campbell, Pork CRC, spoke about ‘Lessons from USA’ and opened by confirming it was the USA industry’s move into multi-site production in the 1990s that revolutionised their industry.

“With 112 million pigs now produced annually, the USA remains one of the lowest cost producers of pork and the biggest global pork exporter.

“The reasons behind their low cost of production include low feed costs, separate breeder and progeny sites to help with disease control, production of a heavier carcase, large efficient abattoirs, excellent genetics and unrestricted access to genetics and good technical training and extension services delivered by well qualified university staff,” said Roger.

“Recent rapid improvement in sow reproduction to average 25 pigs weaned/mated sow/year has lifted profitability by 4 – 5 pigs weaned since 2005, through the use of Danish bloodlines, putting more F1 gilts into the system and genetic selection based on reproductive traits in dam lines.

“There has also been an emphasis on the eating quality of USA pork that started in the late 1990s, with the removal of the HAL stress gene from breeder herds and the majority of their pork is now moisture infused,” Roger added.

“Improving the eating quality of our Australian pork remains a major opportunity.

“The USA pork industry is big, competitive and continually seeking international competitive advantages for its product, but it is reliant on its export markets to keep its domestic pig price volatility under control,” he concluded.

Dr Darryl D’Souza, APL, provided an update of European progress in managing the transition to gestation stall free sow housing, exotic disease incursions, food integrity and the production of entire male slaughter pigs.

“The EU’s partial, four-week ban on the use of sow gestation stalls has literally stalled,” he said, “with perhaps only 70% of EU production now compliant with the agreed restrictions.

“Significant numbers of weaner pigs are being sent into Germany, Poland and The Netherlands, which is impacting heavily on abattoir throughputs and processing costs.

“Food safety has gained renewed focus and impacted on the retail sector since Tesco’s horsemeat substitution issue, all because their meat suppliers were unable to verify their supply chain integrity.

“Here in Australia, we have systems in place to demonstrate trust in our domestic pork through the APIQ and PigPass programs and Physi-trace, which is capable of identifying state and farm of pork origin within 24 hours of an alleged or integrity issue,” Darryl added.

Andrew Spencer’s second address provided an update on current pork supply and demand, industry leadership positions, animal activism and national industry biosecurity.

“While both our beef and sheep herds are re-building numbers, pork exports are increasing, recent Christmas pork sales were strong and our exchange rate is moving in a positive direction for international competitiveness,” Andrew said.

“Our voluntary sow stall phase out has cost at least $50M w

15

NEWS v

in on-farm conversion, or $200/sow place, and impacted on available farm stocking capacities and farrowing rates for at least 12 months.

“The conversion has been a condition of pig supply with some retailers, but the market has yet to show whether a premium pig price will be paid in future, or if conventional pork will be locked out of the market.

Dr Cherie Collins, Rivalea, outlined the main on-farm profit drivers for Rivalea as being grower herd mortality, herd feed efficiency, carcase quality, reproduction performance and optimal infrastructure utilisation, with market factors impacting separately on pig price.

“The strategic use of organic acids, synthetic amino acids and Ractopamine in wean-to-finish diets, used in conjunction with all-in/all-out pig flows, good shed hygiene and well trained farm staff has impacted positively on our pig’s growth and mortality figures,” said Cherie.

“These technologies have allowed us to control specific diseases and utilise lower protein starter diets to control post-weaning scours and reduce excess dietary nitrogen available for gut fermentation.

Cherie stressed that all producers should run in-house trials to assess the cost/benefit response they are getting from any new technology they adopted within their own farm.

Dr Roger Campbell listed seven opportunities to improve profitability within the Australian pig industry based on benchmarking opportunities on the cost side. These included domestic pork differentiation, reduced antibiotic use, farrowing ‘contentment and wellbeing’, improved pork eating quality, national and local herd biosecurity, reproductive performance and feed use efficiency.

“Based on the productivity data generated by the Pork CRC’s group of benchmarked farms, we have an opportunity to increase average born alive to 12.5,” Roger said.

“The current BA within the benchmarking group is 11.1, with the top three herds achieving 12.0. When you look at farrowing rate and pigs weaned/mated sow/year between these herds, this difference in BA is worth an extra 7c/kg carcase price.

“We need to improve the potential of our dam lines, get fatty acid balance right in our lactating sow diets and ensure sows get access to plenty of feed at mixing and for the first 28 days of gestation, especially for young sows.

“The difference in herd feed efficiency between the average and the top three herds within the CRC’s benchmarking group is worth 16c/kg carcase weight,” Roger added.

“So total herd feed conversion remains an opportunity for profitability improvement across industry. The way

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Above: Dr Roger Campbell from Pork CRC, listed seven opportunties to improve profitability within the Australian pig industry.

to address this is through improving herd health, grain processing, genetics and reducing feed wastage.

“If physical feed wastage is sitting at the usual 6+%, this adds 0.2 to your wean-to-sale feed conversion figure!”

“To improve industry profitability on the cost side, we need to wean and sell more pigs and improve feed conversion by targeting 2.2 from wean to finish.

And on the price side, we need to further differentiate our domestic pork from imported pork, improve its eating quality and ensure we can maintain supply to demand,” Roger said.

The last three presentations were given by three young pig scientists, all now based at University of Adelaide’s Roseworthy Campus.

Both Drs’ Kate Plush and Cameron Ralph from SARDI spoke on recent advances in physiology and animal welfare to capture opportunities in farrowing house performance and reproduction.

Dr Kate Plush summarised outcomes from recent, local research focused on the performance of sows and their litters within crate-free farrowing environments and concluded all alternative systems under trial increased space requirements and piglet mortalities.

“The next phase of our farrowing research will be looking at the role ‘enrichment’ or nesting material has on sow and litter performance,” said Kate.

NEWS “But in the meantime, producers should concentrate more on selecting sows with enough functional teats capable of rearing more piglets and optimising piglet birth weight and viability to reduce pre-wean mortalities, she said.”

Dr Cameron Ralph agreed that a commercial balance needed to be found between the welfare of the sow and her litter.

His current research interests focus on the cause and mitigation of stressors amongst pre-and post-farrowed sows, and their subsequent behaviours shown during lactation. Of particular interest amongst the Pig Day audience, he raised the potential impact on subsequent gilt fertility amongst gilts farrowed within a male gender-bias litter, possibly leading to reduced teat number and increased aggression later in life.

Jemma Seyfang, University of Adelaide Animal Science graduate in 2014 and now PhD candidate closed the seminar program with a summary of her 2014 Honours research project, sponsored by the SA Pig Industry through the Ronald J Lienert Memorial Scholarship.

“We proposed hCG supplementation would improve conception rates in sows experiencing low daily feed intakes under heat stress during summer, through positive impacts on ovarian follicular growth and activity,” said Jemma.

“Our work with limited sow numbers resulted in no pregnancy loss under low feed intakes simulating summer conditions and a trend for increased litter size with the hCG treatment given at day 12 post-mating.

“We have some more sows to farrow to see if we can replicate these results,” she added.

The SA Pig Industry Day concluded with an Industry Sponsor’s ‘Happy Hour’, followed by the Pig Industry Day dinner where the Ronald J Lienert Menorial Scholarship was awarded to Tanya Nowland, an Animal Science graduate from the University of Adelaiade.

AB Vista showing benefits of optimised enzyme use AB Vista will be demonstrating how to make the most of enzymes at this year’s VIV Asia exhibition on Booth G033, Hall 103, during the show from March 11-13.

The company will also be hosting two seminars on the opening day, to be held in Room 216 at the Bangkok International Trade & Exhibition Centre.

The first, at 2.30pm, features AB Vista’s Technical Director for Asia and the Pacific, Dr Usama Aftab, speaking about an approach to dietary non-starch polysaccharides.

The second, presented by the company’s Research Director, Dr Mike Bedford, will focus on superdosing of phytase as a means to improve profitability.

AB Vista’s Global Sales Director, Ari Kiviniemi, says that while superdosing may be a relatively new concept in Asia, it continues to gain momentum across the rest of the world.

Superdosing takes phytase use beyond simple nutrient release, by adding an optimised phytase such as Quantum Blue, at three to four times the standard dose; this destroys the majority of the phytate anti-nutrient found in feed.

“Research suggests that by 2019, superdosing could account for more than 30% of all tonnes treated with phytase globally, saving the industry billions through improved performance,” said Mr Kiviniemi.

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NEWS

Manu Feildel extends partnership with Murray Valley Pork for third year Rivalea , Australia’s largest pork producer, has announced that Manu Feildel, acclaimed chef and co-host on Channel 7’s popular My Kitchen Rules, is continuing his role as ambassador for Murray Valley Pork.

This will be Manu’s third year as ambassador for the brand, which is a testament to the strength of the partnership with Murray Valley Pork.

As part of the ambassador role, Manu is involved in engaging with consumers, butchers and industry.

The most recently concluded event at Highpoint Shopping Centre in Melbourne, ‘Summer Tastes with Manu’, resulted in hundreds of shoppers gathering to watch Manu in action cooking his favourite summer pork dishes and inspiring butchers and consumers alike with his passion and flair for creating delicious meals.

As Murray Valley Pork’s brand ambassador in 2015, Manu will be very active in terms of the brand’s activation and engagement program.

“We are thrilled that Manu is back on board with us, third year running.

Manu’s personable and charming personality, along with his established reputation as an acclaimed chef has been instrumental in helping grow awareness of the brand.

“We want to continue to align our

brands together to communicate the same message.

“We strive only for the best quality taste and experience when it comes to pork,” said Paul da Silva, Marketing Manager for Rivalea Australia.

Manu is definitely no stranger to Murray Valley Pork, as he uses the the product both professionally and at home.

Bridget Dunn Memorial Award In 2013, the Australian pork industry lost one of its most passionate and valued members, Bridget Dunn, after a short but courageous battle with cancer. In honour of Bridget and her dedication to the industry, the Bridget Dunn Memorial Award was established. The winner of this year’s award will once again be announced at the Victorian Pig Fair (VPF) on April 14-15, 2015.

Bridget was the Manager of the Girgarre Piggery in Victoria and was well known for her love of pigs. Her enthusiasm rubbed off onto others and many wonderful stockpeople learnt their skills under her tutelage.

This award takes the form of a travel scholarship, covering

18

accommodation, airfares and registration to the 2016 Pan Pacific Pork Expo (PPPE), to be awarded to a non-management piggery employee.

The award is sponsored by Don KRC, a division of George Weston Foods, and the VPF Committee.

Gail Smith from Kia-Ora Farms was the first and very deserving recipient of this award. The VPF Committee is now seeking nominations for this award, to give other non-management staff that are as keen and passionate as Gail the chance to attend the 2016 PPPE. Nominations are open to stockpeople in all states. Applications should consist of a nomination letter written by a referee (no longer than one

“Murray Valley Pork is a great brand that produces the highest quality of meat. They do this ethically and responsibly.

“I love the consistency of the pork, as it delivers depth of sweetness and tenderness present in all of their wide range of cuts.

“It really shines as a quality product,” said Manu Feildel.

A4 page), and should be accompanied by a short resume (no longer than one A4 page), and contact details of at least two other referees.

The closing date for entries is the 20 March 2015. Entries can be posted to Dr Pat Mitchell at 3068 PrairieRochester Rd, Prairie VIC 3572 or emailed to pat.mitchell@australianpork. com.au. The Judges’ decision will be final and no correspondence will be entered into.

The VPF will be held on the April 14 & 15, 2015 at the Bendigo Exhibition Centre, located at the Bendigo Showground. Entry for producers and their employees is free.

The Pig Fair Program will be crammed full of many different events including the seminar program, the ever famous ‘Pig Out’ cocktail party and a host of networking sessions.

NEWS Simons Green Energy a new comer at the Victorian Pig Fair Amongst the many familiar faces at the 2015 Victorian Pig Fair, Bendigo, to be held on April 14 and 15, 2015 will be a newcomer, Simons Green Energy.

Simons Green Energy, established in 2011, is a relatively new division of a long established family run company.

“Our story began when founder Woolf Simons grew his ice chestmaking business into boiler manufacturing, establishing Simons Boiler Co in 1932,” explained current CEO, Derek Simons.

“Simons Boiler Co invented the world’s first electric steam iron and assisted Australia’s war effort by pressing uniforms for the Australian armed forces,” he said.

“From humble beginnings producing small steam boilers and irons, Simons gradually expanded to become a leading provider of commercial steam and hot water heaters.

“ Driven by numerous requests from our customers for cheaper and cleaner thermal technologies, along with a vision for a more sustainable Australia, we continued to build our future by launching Simons Green Energy in 2011.

“We welcome an exciting new future as facilitators of clean, reliable and efficient energy solutions serving commercial and industrial markets,” he said.

“Our main focus has been on providing turnkey Cogeneration and Trigeneration solutions which use gas engines to produce electricity, with the waste heat being used to produce free hot water, steam and chilled water for process heating applications.”

“Since the establishment of Simons Green Energy we have been involved with a number of sustainable energy projects across a wide range

of industries and civic facilities,” Deke Faile, Simon’s Business Development Manager stated.

“We quickly learnt that no two projects are alike and we pride ourselves on the fact that we can design environmentally effective and sustainable energy solutions to suite the specific needs of our clients.

“I have spent quite a lot of time recently talking to pig farmers and those who work with the industry on projects of interest to our company like Alan Sherman, Principal Environmental Engineer at Agri Science Queensland,” he said.

Back in July/August 2010 Pork Journal ran a report on Alan’s biogas capture project at Jeremy Whitby’s Grantham piggery.

Go to http://porkjournal. realviewtechnologies.com/?iid=39294 to read that report.

“The food and farming sector are of particular interest to Simon’s Green Energy and I see great potential in the pork sector where we can use methane generated by pig waste to

CONTINUED ON PAGE 22 w

The Simons Green Energy team.

Lto R: Business Development Manager Deke Faile, CEO Derek Simons and Toni Simons who looks after public relations and marketing.

19

NUTRITION FEATURE Choosing a reliable mycotoxin binder for feed safety

By Zagro Technical Specialists Feed is the major expenditure in production cost which comprises 6070%. It is one of the key factors we look into to ensure a farm’s sustainability and profitability.

Due to this, ensuring the quality of feed ingredients is a must. Physical, chemical and microbial properties of these ingredients are carefully evaluated.

As the bulk of the feed ingredients used is grains, there is also more focus into these ingredients. Nutrient content of these grains is periodically tested to ensure animals growth. However, nutrient content is not the only thing we need to look into.

In achieving productivity, we also need to look into feed safety. One of the feed safety issues that have been recurring in the industry is mycotoxin contamination.

Due to their intrinsic properties, these grains are very susceptible to microbial contamination. Hence, a rational approach in controlling feed mycotoxin is a great challenge in order to satisfy feed safety.

Mycotoxins in feed and its effect on animals Mycotoxins are metabolic products or by-products of fungi. Grain feed ingredients may be contaminated with mycotoxins even before harvest of the plant, during post-harvest handling and storage, and throughout processing into animal-feed products.

According to FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization), 25% of the world’s crop harvests are contaminated with mycotoxins.

Mycotoxins growth is also favored by certain environmental and storage conditions such as temperatures of 4090°F, more than 70% relative humidity and grain moisture higher than 14%.

There are more than 300 types of mycotoxins, but only a few are yet studied and regarded as significant to animal health. These are Aflatoxin, Vomitoxin, Zearalenone, Fumonisin, and Ochratoxin.

Accumulation of mycotoxins in the animal’s body implies a major threat to the animal’s health.

Animal performance is negatively affected by mycotoxins. This includes

20

reduced feed intake, poor feed efficiency and weight gain, respiratory problems, decreased reproductive performance, liver, kidney and other organ damage and increase mortality rate. Mycotoxin effects on animals vary depending on certain factors such as species, breed, age and sex of the animal, nutritional and health status, and presence and exposure to other mycotoxins.

Preventing mycotoxin accumulation In accordance with feed safety and farm productivity, measures are taken to control mycotoxins and prevent mycotoxicoses. Practical and effective methods are designed to detoxify feed ingredients containing mycotoxins.

Different approaches like physical, chemical or biological methods are carried out to eliminate toxins. Physical approaches include cleaning, washing, segregation, thermal inactivation and irradiation.

Chemical approaches uses chemical agents to detoxify the ingredient, only, most agents also affects the nutritive content of the feedstuff. Biological methods on the other hand, uses adsorbent material which binds the mycotoxins and is the most commonly used and studied approach.

Adsorption or binding of mycotoxins using toxinbinders in feed is the best method adopted so far. This uses substances which has capacity to bind mycotoxins in the gastrointestinal tract of the animals.

Toxinbinders includes aluminosilicates (clay, bentonite, montmorillonite, zeolite, phyllosilicates, etc.), activated carbon, complex indigestible carbohydrates (cellulose, polysaccharides in the cell walls of yeast and bacteria such as glucomannans, peptidoglycans, and others), and synthetic polymers such as cholestryamine and polyvinylpyrrolidone and derivatives.

Aluminosilicates are the most common toxinbinders available in the market and Hydrated Sodium Calcium Aluminosilicates (HSCAS) has been the most extensively studied among all of them.

HSCAS like other bentonite clays resulted from the decomposition of

volcanic ash and consists primarily of phyllosilicate minerals belonging to smectite group.

Bentonites have high aflatoxin adsorption, capacity and affinity (Vekiru et al., 2007) and could stop up to 90% of the fumonisins present in a complex medium, eg., gastrointestinal fluid (Richard and Payne, 2003).

About 70% of the cases, the smectite is montmorillonite. HSCAS which refers to a specific calcium montmorillonite is known as the most effective enterosorbent of aflatoxins.

Aflatoxins, known as the most notorious mycotoxin, have β-keto-lactone or bilactone system which forms a stable HSCAS-aflatoxin complex, thus, explains the effectiveness of chemisorption of mycotoxin to HSCAS. Corn, the major grain used in most feeds, is most likely to have perennial contamination with aflatoxins. Since aflatoxin has shown to be carcinogenic, FDA set action levels for aflatoxins for all foods including animal feeds and even corn intended for feeds (Figure 1). HSCAS has been shown in many feeding trials that it has protective effects against aflatoxins in several animals.

A reliable toxinbinder of choice Zagribind, is a tri-layered hydrous aluminosilicate with extremely consistent levels of sodium and calcium (HSCAS). It undergoes stringent manufacturing processes designed to optimize the cation exchange capacity of the material.

The purification process removes the non-clay portion that interferes with mycotoxins adsorption. This means that more surface and more charges are expose for mycotoxin adsorption, thereby preventing mycotoxins absorption by the gastrointestinal tract of many species of livestock.

On a trial conducted in 2012 at Pharmacovigilance Laboratory for Animal Feed and Food Safety (PLAFFS); Zagribind is used at 0.2% dose and the level of mycotoxins used was the following: Aflatoxin B1 (50ppb), Ochratoxin (50 ppb), Zearalenone (500ppb), Vomitoxin (500ppb), Fumonisin (1ppm), T2 toxins (100ppb).

The results of this trial (Figure 2), clearly show that Zagribind can significantly bind most of the mycotoxins present in gastrointestinal tract of animals.

NUTRITION FEATURE Animal

Aflatoxin level

Finshing beef cattle

300 ppb

Finishing swine ≼ 100 lbs

200 ppb

Breeding beef cattle; breeding swine; mature poultry

100 ppb

Immature animals; dairy animals; animal species not specified above

20 ppb

Source: FDA, 1994. CPG Sec. 683.100 Action Levels for Aflatoxin in Animal Feeds, http://www.fda.gov/ICECI/ ComplianceManuals/CompliancePolicyGuidanceManual/ ucm074703.htm.

Figure 1. Action levels for Aflatoxins in corn

Summary With all the risks of mycotoxins, from its effects to animal health to farm productivity, using a costeffective approach is a great challenge but is possible to achieve.

Physical and chemical approach may be rational, but it’s not cost effective and can be hard to manage on a big scale.

Biological approach by using mycotoxin binders is the most cost-effective method so far, only, choosing a reliable one will be the challenge. The binding capacity of the adsorbent must always be taken into consideration.

Always remember that not all clays are the same, and so that not all HSCAS are the same.

With Zagribind, a purified HSCAS with consistent physical and chemical quality, maximum mycotoxin binding capacity is achieved for optimum farm productivity and feed safety.

For all your livestock needs Figure 2. Binding efficiency of Zagribind at various mycotoxins

Animal Protein Meals, Vitamins and Mineral Premixes,

• 800 ppb aflatoxin • 4 week trial/initial weight - 10.7 kg

Feed additives and Supplements,

Diet Normal corn

Vegetable Protein Meals,

Aflatoxin corn AC

AC +.5% Zagribind

Item ADG, kg ADFI, kg Gain/Feed

0.64 1.32 0.48

0.48 1.17 0.41

0.62 1.33 0.47

AST, U/L GGT, U/L ALP, U/L

42 37 174

78 70 252

55 36 175

Figure 3. Effects of Zagribind on aflatoxin contamination in pigs In a pig trial in Virginia Polytechnic Institute (Figure 3), Zagribind also shows positive effects on aflatoxin contaminated corn.

This trial shows that even at very high Aflatoxin content of corn, Zagribind can effectively bind the toxins and diminish its negative effects to the animals’ performance.

Custom and Standard Millpacks, Animal Health and Husbandry.

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21

NEWS v CONTINUED FROM PAGE 19 reduce energy costs and undesirable emissions.

Traditional energy costs comprise up to one-third of a businesses operating costs, and analysts foresee substantial rises in future electricity and natural gas charges.

“By using methane fired engines to produce electricity, hot water, steam or chilled water in a Co/Trigeneration system, a large portion of these traditional costs can be avoided,” Deke said.

“However, the research that we have conducted so far reveals that pig farmers will all have differing needs and solutions and that’s why we want to participate as an exhibitor at the Victorian Pig Fair and talk to industry face to face,” he said.

“Our solutions could vary from a simple methane capture scheme to reduce emissions to a comprehensive trigeneration strategy that could provide energy for ancillaries like feed mills and even processing facilities,” Deke

explained.

“We look forward to meeting farmers and those who support the pork industry to exchange ideas.

“We are a family business whose success has been based on engineering solutions. We found a better way to put a crease in stiff woolen army uniforms back in the 1930s and today we can cut a slice off energy bills,” he concluded.

Toni Simons, another key member of the family team looks after Simons Green Energy’s public relations and marketing.

“We have some great stories to tell including the completion of a cogeneration scheme for the famous ‘Little Creatures’ Brewery at Geelong, now owned by Lion Nathan.

“Projects such as Little Creatures Brewery have been saving our customers tens of thousands of dollars each year by implementing cogeneration, biogas boilers and heating systems which have been installed in more than 20 sites along with more efficient traditional boilers

(many of which are made in Australia) that have been installed in thousands of locations across the country.

“This scheme uses natural gas as a prime energy source and helps to make this growing business more sustainable as well as more profitable,” she said.

“We are really motivated by the opportunities that exist in the farm sector and have identified the pig industry as an activity that could benefit greatly from our engineered solutions to controlling energy costs,” she added.

Make sure you visit the Simon’s Green Energy team when you attend the Victorian Pig Fair held at the Bendigo Exhibition Centre located at the Prince of Wales Showground in April.

If you would like to advertise in Pork Journal, contact Pete Bedwell on 0419 235 288 or (02) 9797 2406. www.primarymedia.com.au

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