Meat + Poultry - January 2008 - 4

THE FRONT PAGE
O.B. Goolsby of Pilgrim's Pride dies unexpectedly
PITTSBURG, TEXAS - O.B. Goolsby Jr., president and CEO of Pilgrim's Pride Corporation,
passed away on Dec. 17 after suffering a massive stroke the Saturday
before during a hunting
trip in Texas. Goolsby
was 60 years old.
The Pilgrim's Pride
board of directors appointed a special committee to select Goolsby's
successor and appointed Lonnie Pilgrim
Goolsby
to serve as interim president. The company has taken steps to ensure all business activities will continue without interruption.
"Our company has lost a gracious, talented leader
who served as an inspiration to everyone around him,
and we are deeply saddened by his death," said Lonnie
"Bo" Pilgrim, senior chairman and co-founder of Pilgrim's Pride. "O.B. was a respected, gifted executive who

helped guide Pilgrim's Pride through a period of historic growth with candor, honesty and a wonderful sense of humor. O.B.
also was a man of great, unwavering faith,
and we will miss him dearly. Our thoughts
and prayers are with his family during this
very difficult time."
Goolsby served as president and CEO
since September 2004. Prior to that, he was
president and chief operating officer for two
years. Goolsby served as Pilgrim's Pride's executive vice president of the firm's prepared foods complexes from 1998 to 2002, and previously served for six
years as senior vice president, prepared foods operations
and for five years as vice president, prepared foods complexes. He joined the company in 1969 at its distribution
center in Mt. Pleasant, Texas, and one year later moved
into plant sales.
Goolsby is survived by his wife, Barbara; his three children, Melissa, Greg and Tennille, and 11 grandchildren.

B.S.E. discovered in
Canadian cow

Canada denounces E.U.'s
support of subsidies for pork

ALBERTA, CANADA - This past month, a 13-year-old beef
cow from Alberta tested positive for bovine spongiform
encephalopathy, according to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. The carcass was placed in the possession
of CFIA officials who confi rm that no part of it entered
the human food or animal feed systems.
The CFIA said because of the country's "controlledrisk" status and multiple methods of prevention and detection, the latest discovery will
not affect Canada's risk status.
Among the measures taken is
the enhanced feed ban, which
was implemented this past July.
The feed ban prohibits specified
risk materials from being used
in all animal feeds, pet foods
and fertilizers.
An epidemiological investigation directed by international guidelines is being carried out to identify the animal's herdmates for the past 13 years and the pathways
by which it might have become infected. The latest case
isn't the fi rst of 2007. This past February, CFIA officials
confi rmed the diagnosis of BSE in a mature bull from
Alberta. This past May, a 66-month-old Holstein from a
British Columbia dairy farm tested positively for BSE and
was destroyed.

OTTAWA, ONTARIO - Gerry Ritz, Minister of Agriculture and
Agri-Food and Minister for the Canadian Wheat Board, said on
Dec. 12 that he is disappointed in the European Union's decision to resume the use of export subsidies for certain pork
products. The new subsidies came into effect Nov. 30.
"We are very disappointed that the E.U. has chosen to resume the use of export subsidies for pork," he said. "I have
written to the E.U. Commissioner for Agriculture
and Rural Development, expressing Canada's
concerns and asking that these subsidies be reconsidered. The E.U. action is in stark contrast
to its stated commitment in the current round
of World Trade Organization negotiations to
end export subsidies on agricultural products,
including pork."
Pork producers around the world - including
those in Canada - are facing financial difficulties.
"Off-loading one's domestic problems on your
trade partners, which is the effect of the E.U.'s new subsidies,
is not the way to resolve the problem," Ritz said.
Ritz said the Canadian government will continue to work
with the livestock industry.
"This government is committed to farmers," he said. "We
will take the necessary steps to ensure that the agriculture industry, which has served Canadians so well, continues to have
the opportunities it needs to thrive in what is admittedly a difficult global environment."

MEAT&POULTRY

January 2008

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Meat + Poultry - January 2008

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