EU REPORT ON BULGARIAN DAIRY, MEAT PRODUCERS READY SOON

Views on BG | March 8, 2002, Friday // 00:00

EU veterinarians made an inspection to find how the Bulgarian system of mad cow disease prevention and control works.

The official report will be ready within 20 days. The EU vets' remarks focus on three areas, National Veterinary Service Deputy Director Rumen Karamonov said. An inspection at the slaughterhouse and the Regional Veterinary Service in Yambol found that a stun gun required for humane slaughter is not used in Bulgaria. It has been used for a long time in Europe and has been approved in Bulgaria, but is rarely used here, Karamonov said. An Agriculture Ministry ordinance envisages the use of stun guns.

The EU vets identified a problem relating to the identification of animals. Lack of marking at birth makes it difficult to trace their movement after being traded, Karamonov said. The problem stems from the fact that over 50 percent of cattle are raised by small farmers with five or six animals on their farms. They often fail to meet the requirement to notify vets and mark the animals 20 days after they are born. Such farmers will be fined in the future because their negligence is damaging to the country's image, Karamonov said.

The other problem identified by the EU vets is that specific risk material is not separated from low risk material at the time of slaughter. The different types of material must be stored in separate containers because low risk material may be used in meat-and-bone meal production, while specific risk material must be sent to incinerators.

In the last ten years Bulgaria has not imported products infected with mad cow disease, therefore the country is not in danger; the Bulgarian authorities are categorical that no cases of the disease have been registered in humans or animals. As a country of the lowest-risk group, Bulgaria has been waiting for nearly a year now for the EU to lift the barrier to trade in live animals and products thereof, which accounts for serious economic losses, Karamonov said.

Another EU mission will visit Bulgaria on March 11-16 to familiarize itself with the food safety control system. As in previous missions, the main aim will be to check Bulgaria's readiness to meet in practice the EU requirements enshrined in its legislation.

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