This article is from page 55 of the 2008-01-08 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 55 JPG
THE pre-Christmas partial ban on Brazilian beef imports into the EU has been welcomed cautiously by the farming organisations.
Speaking from Brussels, the IFA President Padraig Walshe stated that only an outright ban will fully safe- guard the European Union from the risk of Foot and Mouth Disease from Brazilian beef imports.
However, Mr Walshe had to con- cede that the restrictions decided upon for Brazil, particularly the re- quirement that all holdings for export to the EU must be approved and list- ed publicly, is a significant step for- ward. “The decision of the European Commission indicates that the new
restrictions on approved holdings should limit the number of Brazilian farms meeting the new criteria for export to Europe. These new restric- tions should limit exports to a small number of farms, if properly imple- mented,” he said.
“The IFA campaign over the last two years highlighting the failure of Brazil to meet EU standards has been fully vindicated. The commis- sion again have admitted that they have identified serious instances of non compliance with regard to hold- ing registration, animal identification and movement controls and a failure to respect their previous commit- ments to take the appropriate correc- tive measures.”
The Commission decision goes on
to state that, “it is only possible to al- low imports to continue on a secure basis by strengthening the control and surveillance for holdings from which animals eligible for export to the community are sourced and by establishing a provisional list of such approved holdings”.
“FMD is endemic in Brazil and only a total ban will safeguard the European Union. Previous attempts to regulate Brazilian beef imports to Europe have fallen down due to a lack of traceability and movement controls, ineffective vaccination against FMD and the inability of the Brazilian authorities to implement proper controls,” said IFA National Livestock Chairman, John Bryan.
The ban was also welcomed by
Irish MEP Marian Harkins. **The fact that it took the Irish Farmers Asso- ciation and the Irish Farmers Journal to expose the deficiencies inherent in the Brazilian cattle production and processing industry casts doubt on the efficacy of the EU’s veterinary and food safety system,” she said .
“The investigation of Brazilian controls in the beef sector by Irish in- terests was first rubbished by repre- sentatives of the EU Food & Veteri- nary Office and was not supported by our minister for agriculture. But the pressure maintained by the IFA, sup- ported by the Agriculture Commit- tee of the European Parliament and members such as myself has forced this reassessment of non-compliance by Brazil with EU requirements.”