Foot and Mouth in Brazil - time to reassess

By Matt Dempsey

Today (Wednesday) as we go to press the specialist EU Commission services are considering what action to take on the Foot and Mouth outbreak in Brazil. We do not wish anyone ill, but Europe has a responsibility to its consumers and to its agri industries and farmers. It was always clear that importing fresh beef from a country that routinely vaccinated against Foot and Mouth was playing with fire. It placed continuity of supply and food security at risk.

This has now turned out to be the case. The old concept of the white listed beef production regions - ie those free of Foot and Mouth and who do not have to resort to vaccination to maintain that freedom has been effectively abandoned by Europe - but is still continued by the US and Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea. These are the facts.

Last week an official Northern Ireland delegation went on a long arranged tour to look at South American beef production and to assess how Northern Irish farmers could best develop profitable beef enterprises.

Obviously, Brazil was to be the centre point of the tour, but almost at the last minute the group was denied access to Brazil and had to instead confine themselves to Argentina and Uruguay - two significant beef producers and exporters but with a combined herd of only one third of Brazil's and with a much slower growth in beef exports than Brazil has achieved in recent years.

Within a world trading environment we have little option but to recognise that previously protected markets are being opened up. Sugar is the current most painful example. But to do so in a way that over rides essential animal health and food security considerations is fundamentally wrong. To import in the face of widely different standards of traceability and animal medicine regulations is intrinsically unfair.

Foot and Mouth outbreaks in Brazil are by no means unusual. But this latest one should serve as a wake-up call to European politicians and regulators that both knowledge and common sense are needed in regulating food supplies. Up to now we have been short of both.

Meanwhile, beef producers should read Justin McCarthy's account of his visit to Italy on pages (see Beef Features). There are several questions to answer.