european union weighs ban on sa ostrich meat  
16 July 2008

The EU’s health and consumer protection directorate says that it will make a decision on the fate of ostrich exports from SA after the visit to SA last week by a team sent by the European Commission’s food and veterinary office to investigate the implementation of health and safety measures.  The EU has already banned red meat, poultry and other animal-derived products such as honey and milk from entering the EU, and last month game meat was added to the list of prohibited exports.

SA is a net importer of red meat, which means the ban on red meat exports does not affect the industry significantly.  However, most of SA’s ostrich meat is exported with the EU its most significant market. Ostrich meat worth more than R1bn, or about 90% of total exports, goes to Europe. A ban on those exports could damage the industry severely. An agricultural trade specialist, who declined to be named, said SA’s market was not big enough to absorb exports diverted.

EU regulations specify that exporting countries must be on a list of “authorised third countries” to export product to that trade bloc. Qualification for export status requires the submission of a plan setting out guarantees on the monitoring of “residues”, or substances, contained in the products.  The testing, which is the responsibility of the agriculture department, is required to ensure meat products do not contain substances such as antibiotics, pesticides or growth stimulants that could be harmful to consumers.The commission’s press officer for health, Marie Antonie Kerwien, said South African game meat was being banned from the EU market as South African authorities had “problems” implementing the monitoring plan for residues.

The latest investigation also casts doubts on compliance with health standards of ostrich meat. Kerwien said the main scope of the investigative mission was to establish if the residues-testing programme for this year was being conducted in a “satisfactorily” manner and if hormone growth promoters for ostriches had been withdrawn in compliance with EU requirements.
Medicines records were also examined along with implementation of official controls.  The team, evidently hosted by the agriculture department, visited the two main laboratories involved in residue testing and an ostrich-rearing farm, and met officials of the central veterinary authority.

Repeated attempts to reach the department and the Ostrich Breeders Association of SA were unsuccessful.

Mathabo le Roux,  www.businessday.co.za