European Union agriculture experts have recommended a ban on South African ostrich meat, but the local Department of Agriculture says it has no official knowledge of this threat to the R1,2-billion export industry.
”As I speak now, I don’t have any official correspondence [from the EU] indicating [it] wants to ban ostrich meat,” the department’s chief communications director, Priscilla Sehoole, told the South African Press Association (Sapa) on Monday.
She was responding to a question on reports that the EU had confirmed it was recommending South Africa be removed from its list of exporters of ostrich meat, poultry, milk, honey, pork and beef.
Sehoole said the first her department had heard of this latest development was from news reports.
She said South African officials were poised to attend an afternoon meeting with their EU counterparts in the Belgian capital, Brussels, to discuss the matter.
According to Business Report on Monday, EU spokesperson Phillip Tod confirmed that a recommendation was made by his organisation that South Africa be delisted.
This stemmed from the country’s ”failure to provide an approved residue monitoring plan”.
The report says an EU delegation of health inspectors ”had declared the country’s residue control systems ineffective and dysfunctional”.
The residue referred to is traces of drugs and chemicals — including penicillin, pesticides and stimulants — in meat.
Business Report also quoted a local veterinary pharmacologist as saying ”unsafe products for the EU means unsafe for the South African consumer”.
It is understood the Department of Agriculture — through their laboratories — is responsible for residue testing of South African meat products.
However, asked if meat was safe for local consumers to eat, Sehoole told Sapa this question needed to be ”re-routed” to the Department of Health.
She undertook to do so, but by mid-afternoon had not responded. Calls to her cellphone and landline went unanswered.
Meanwhile, the Red Meat Producers Organisation (RPO), which represents local commercial producers, has warned of the effect an EU ban will have on South African consumers.
”This can … impact negatively on consumer perceptions in terms of quality and hygienic standards of agricultural products,” it said in a statement later on Monday.
The RPO was concerned the EU survey had reportedly pointed out defects in the animal health system at provincial and national level.
It said a banning would not have an immediate influence on the local red meat industry ”as South Africa is a net importer of red meat, and does not export red meat on any significant scale to the EU”.
Contacted for comment, RPO chairperson Arnold Brand told Sapa that ostrich meat was not classified as ”red” meat, but warned a ban on ostrich meat exports would certainly have a big impact on that section of the industry.
The Democratic Alliance, which warned last month of a possible ban on the export of South African meat products to the EU, on Monday labelled the department’s saying it knew nothing about a possible ban on South African meat products a ”blatant lie”.
”This issue is nothing new. The department has been negotiating and communicating with the EU on the matter since 2003,” DA agriculture spokesperson Kraai van Niekerk — a former agriculture minister — said in a statement.
The party warned last month of a possible ban on meat exports.
At the time, Sehoole told Sapa she had ”no idea” why Van Niekerk was sounding such a warning. — Sapa