Summary of newsmakers of the previous days – 27.-29.10. 2006

Dotations to farmers as soon as possible

The first this year’s supports will start to flow in farmers’ accounts next week. It is dealt with compensatory contributions for farming in less favourable areas (LFA). The spokeswoman of the Ministry of Agriculture CR (MZe), Táňa Králová, informed on it today and added that the effort of the Ministress of Agriculture, Milena Vicenová, is to push forward payment of all kinds of supports provided over this year as much as possible. The State Agricultural Intervention Fund has already given 5,5 thousand of decisions for payment to LFA in height of 1,9 billion crowns. In total it has received almost 9,3 thousands of applications for 2,9 billion crowns.

Pond Amerika near Františkovy Lázně should produce as much as 50 tons of fish

A traditional autumn haul will end today in the biggest fishpond Amerika near Františkovy Lázně in Karlovy Vary region. Fishermen expected as much as 500 metric centers of fish, said Bohumil Kolofa, the manager of centre Planá of Czech fishery Mariánské Lázně to which Amerika belongs to ČTK today. Two-day haunt started already in Thursday. “Now we have haunted about 300 quintals. According to pieces and sizes the fare should be better this year than the last year”, Kolofa estimated. Fishermen will fish out above all carps but also grass carps, bighead carps and tenches. From carnivorous fish then pikeperches, pikes and sheatfish of weight as much as 30 kilograms.

Report of SZPI on extraneous substances control

On SZPI pages the Report on results of planned control of extraneous substances in food in 2005 is disposable. In 2005 SZPI sampled 1843 samples in frame of extraneous substances monitoring and realized 91 747 analyses. 11 samples did not satisfied the hygienic limit which represents 0,6 % unsatisfactory from the total number of samples. In comparison with the year 2004 (1,7 % unsatisfactory) the percentage of unsatisfactory samples is significantly lower. A possible cause of the lower percentage of ascertained unsatisfactory products can be seen in the fact that after the Czech Republic admission the legal environment changed and the result was that for many contaminants obligatory limits are set no longer.

The first suspicion of bluetongue disease in animals in Poland

The first suspicion of bluetongue disease has appeared in Poland. Its English name is derived from the fact that in the last stadium infected animal’s tongue gets blue. Experts have confirmed the presence of antidote against this disease in three pieces of cattle coming from West-Pomeranian region. The agency PAP announced today that tests should prove or disprove the virus presence in animals’ body. However, the agency did not report to which animals the suspicion of disease concerns in Poland. The tests results should be known in next two days. The spokeswoman of the region, Agnieszka Muchla, said that the disease is neither infectious for animals nor for people. The animals were imported from herds in Belgium and the Netherlands which had 250 pieces of cattle. Just in these countries and in the north of Germany the disease has appeared for the first time in August.