Carcass meal | versenden drucken |
12.03.2007
German authorities have put a stop to the export of carcass meal after the recent publication of a foodwatch report. At a press conference on 21 February 2007, foodwatch, a German NGO for consumers’ rights regarding food, publicised the explosive findings of research revealing that authorities were complicit in the illegal export to non-EU countries of at least 30,000 tonnes of meat-and-bone meal generated from BSE Risk Category 3 animal by-products (BSE = ‘mad cow’ disease). In non-EU countries, such meal can be illegally introduced into the human food chain.
foodwatch has initiated criminal proceedings against leading businesses in the European meat industry and against four rural district offices in Germany. foodwatch is calling on Horst Seehofer, Germany's minister for food, agriculture and consumer protection, to make use of Germany's current presidency of the EU Council of Ministers to make meat businesses liable for properly disposing of animal by-products. Until that happens, all exports of animal meal to non-EU countries must be stopped.
According to EU regulation 1774/2002, Category 3 slaughter by-products (which include feathers, skin, claws, hoofs, horns, udders, bones, fat, blood and spoiled meat) and the animal meal generated from them can be used only to feed pets, fur animals and animals in zoos, or as fertilisers. In no case may these products reach the human food chain, either as food supplements or as fodder for animals intended for human consumption. To guarantee that EU regulations are upheld, a bilateral agreement on exporting animal meal must be set up between an EU and a non-EU country before animal meal may be exported from the EU. To date, such agreements have been made only with Thailand and Israel.
"Nevertheless, reputable businesses like Europe's largest meat group VION and the PHW group, which includes Germany's leading poultry producer Wiesenhof, have exported Category 3 meat-and-bone meal to non-EU countries", confirmed Matthias Wolfschmidt, foodwatch's veterinarian. foodwatch research has revealed that animal meal was exported as far as Vietnam, where the import of meat-and-bone meal from the EU is expressly banned. This meal is even fed to animals meant for consumption and thus reaches the human food chain. The authorities responsible in some German rural districts in Lower Saxony permitted exports that foodwatch believes to be illegal. foodwatch has initiated criminal proceedings against SNP, a subsidiary of VION, and against Gepro, which belongs to PHW, as well as against Beckmann, a fertiliser trader, and against four rural district offices. District authorities in Emsland, Oldenburg and Vechta stopped exports immediately after the foodwatch report was publicised. District representatives confirmed this when asked by foodwatch.
foodwatch is calling for handling animal by-products the same way that European waste legislation dictates the handling of other wastes. This requires businesses to assume liability for the manufacture of products and their disposal or use as waste. For example, the responsibility for scrap computers and old cars has long since been assigned to their manufacturers. "All wrongdoing regarding slaughter by-products, spoiled meat and animal meal won't end until the EU dictates clear regulations on waste. Otherwise, nothing will change the scandalous conditions persisting at the cost of consumers", said Mr. Wolfschmidt.
Anyone can support foodwatch's appeal to the German government by participating in foodwatch's 'citizens in action' activity on the Internet. More than 2,000 consumers have already joined the protest at www.foodwatch.de in the two weeks since the report was published.
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