At the latest meeting between the price quotation advisory council of the Lower Saxony Chamber of Agriculture (LWK) and the piglet marketing working group of the Livestock and Meat Producers' Association (VEZG), the two organizations discussed how piglets from the North-West of the Chamber of Agriculture of Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia should be quoted. After the end of the transition period of the new German Animal Welfare Act, the VEZG's price recommendation will be adjusted to the new marketing situation.

The experts on the advisory board estimate that the majority of piglets finished in Germany will continue to be castrated in order to meet the market requirements for slaughter pigs.

Since January 1, 2021, piglets castrated under anesthesia in accordance with the new Animal Welfare Act receive a surcharge of €2 per animal if they are sold in a batch with a balanced male/female ratio.

This means that a surcharge of at least four euros per castrated male piglet is paid to compensate piglet producers for the additional costs resulting from castration under anesthesia.

African swine fever (ASF) continues to spread in the Philippines, with almost all regions in Luzon except for Mimaropa being affected along with several municipalities in Leyte in Eastern Visayas.

The governor of Iloilo (Western Visayas) has signed an executive order banning livestock vehicles originating from Luzon, Mindanao, and other areas affected by ASF from entering the Iloilo province if they do not present a disinfection certificate from the point of origin or port of exit. This is a measure intended to protect the PHP20-billion hog industry in Western Visayas. The Iloilo province remains a “Free Zone” under the national ASF zoning plan.

Northern Samar in Eastern Visayas has also taken measures, banning the entry of live hogs from Luzon, Mindanao, and Leyte province for 60 days (until March 19) in an effort to keep the province ASF-free.

On December 25, 2020, the Chinese Institute of Food Science and Technology (CIFST) issued the voluntary group standard Plant-Based Meat Products (T/CIFST 001-2020), which provides definitions, technical requirements, and guidelines on the labeling, packaging, transportation, and storage of plant-based meat alternative products. The standard will be implemented on June 25, 2021.

The plant-based meat alternative sector in China is growing, with a dozen plant-based meat alternative companies having emerged in 2019, introducing a large variety of new products to consumers in China.

The document lays out requirements for labeling of these products. If the product category name cannot reflect the true attributes of the product or cannot clearly reflect that the product uses plant raw materials, a descriptive word reflecting the plant-derived ingredients or indicating that the product simulates animal meat product could be used jointly with the product category name. (i.e. Plant sausage, Plant ham, Plant barbecued pork)

The product label shall have words indicating that the product is different from animal meat products. Words such as "plant-derived" and "non-animal-derived" can be used to describe the raw material source of the final product, and it can also use the word "Vegetable" as an auxiliary description.