January 31 2003, 09:19 Interfax-Ukraine

Ukrainian vets will strengthen control over meat imports

Ukraine's state department of veterinary medicine intends this year to strengthen control over imports of meat and meat products into the country in order to prevent sales in Ukraine of meat produce of unknown origin.

Head of Ukraine's State Department of Veterinary Medicine Petro Verbyts'ky was cited as saying at the press-conference yesterday that one of the major risk factor of getting infected meat produce into Ukraine's retail network was its illegal import.

"We can rule out smuggles of live animals, it's practically impossible. But animal products and raw materials - that's different", he said.

He informed that last year the law-enforcement authorities had confiscated more than 4,100 tonnes of substandard and dangerous meat produce while checking-out meat processing enterprises and road vehicles. That included products from the countries with unfavourable epizootic situation (in particular - liver from Great Britain). The products were partly utilised and tens of their owners were instituted criminal proceedings against.

However, he noted, measures had been taken recently which would make virtually impossible to bring such products onto the territory of the country.

In Ukraine there is currently in effect a ban against imports of live animals, meat products and foeti from 26 countries (Western and Central Europe, except Hungary and Baltic) because of a dangerous disease - spongiform encephalopathy or "mad cow disease" - registered in those countries.

Besides, there are restrictions for meat imports from countries, where cases of foot-and-mouth disease, hog cholera and cases of poultry's Newcastle disease were registered.

The specialists have estimated last year's meat smuggles to have taken up 20 percent of the meat market.

Veterinaries have fear that dangerous infectious animal diseases can be brought into the country with smuggles.