EU resumes poultry imports from 16 counties
ROMANIA - The European Commission approved imports of poultry meat and poultry meat products from 16 Romanian counties after the total suspension of imports at mid-October 2005 as the first cases of bird flu were discovered."The lift of restrictions for these counties was recently approved by the Brussels authorities and will become effective after publication in the Official gazette" said the president of the National Veterinary and Food Safety Authority (ANSVSA) Ion Agafitei.
The 16 counties are Caras-Severin, Timis, Hunedoara, Arad, Bihor, Salaj, Satu-Mare, Maramures, Cluj, Alba, Sibiu, Brasov, Covasna, Harghita, Mures and Bistrita-Nasaud.
On November 22 ANSVSA submitted to the European authorities in Brussels a proposal for the regionalization of Romanian poultry meat exports so that deliveries are permitted from those areas where the bird flu virus had not been detected.
A few days later ANSVSA was notified about the relaxation of measures regarding Romanian poultry meat exports to the European Union. Restrictions were to be maintained only for poultry meat from the counties Constanta, Galati, Braila, Ialomita and Calarasi as well as for live birds from the whole country.
New bird flu outbreaks determined the European Officials to postpone their decision. Breeders say the losses caused by the bird flu reached 33.5 million euros in the last three months of 2005 alone and demand the urgent intervention of authorities to avoid the bankruptcy of the whole sector.
Source: Bucharest Daily News
6 January 2006
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