SA suspends meat, poultry exports to EU

At a meeting between the department's Director General Masiphula Mbongwa and EU Director General of Health and Consumer Protection Robert Medalin, the parties agreed on recommendations made earlier to halt the specific exports.

According to the department, South Africa will instead concentrate on building the resource base of those commodities in order to build up substantial quantities for later export.

Thus, an application by South Africa to activate the export of those commodities will be lodged when the stock levels are sufficient enough to resume trade.

The meeting discussed progress made since the parties met in September 2007, and also dealt with issues relating to bio-security and disaster management.

Mbongwa said, “Our discussions were fruitful and hold promising prospects for a continued healthy trade with the EU.”

In 2004, ostriches on farms from the Eastern and Western Cape tested positive for bird flu, resulting in the banning of South African meat from European markets.

Similarly, ostrich farmers and abattoirs had their products banned by the EU in July 2006 following an outbreak of the H5N2 virus in farms in Mossel Bay and Riversdale in the Western Cape.

The ban effectively stopped the import of ostrich, emus and their meat and eggs from South Africa.

In November 2006, the EU informed South Africa it had accepted its status as free from Highly Pathogenic Notifiable Avian Influenza (HPNAI) and lifted the ban.

The EU recently threatened to ban the import of animal products from South Africa following government's failure to meet certain stipulated requirements agreed upon five years ago.

Article published courtesy of BuaNews