Swine fever outbreak fears

Belgium is fighting to limit the impact of African swine fever (ASF) which has already triggered a number of countries to ban Belgian pork. The Belgian authorities admit this is understandable and within trade protocols in the event of an ASF outbreak.

They have, however, warned that this is a high-stakes game Belgium has to win, since it has six million pigs and 15,000 jobs in production and processing.

In response to the outbreak, 4,000 pigs were culled in the affected area.

The EU farm commissioner, Phil Hogan, praised the speed of the response but warned that ASF, carried by wild boar, posed a major risk across the EU.

He also said it was a threat to pigmeat exports, which have been booming.

He promised funds for short-term compensation and biosecurity measures as well as a longer term action programme which includes research into a vaccination programme.

The EU Rapid Alert system is a mechanism to share information between member states on food and disease risks.

In its report covering 2017, the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed reported a big increase in the number of incidents reported to the European Commission, which then passes this information on to member states.

In 2017, it issued around 3,800 incident reports, of which 942 were classified as alerts. This was up by 11% on 2016 and was the highest number since 2005.

The figure was increased by the fipronil in eggs crisis, but the biggest source of alerts was salmonella in imported poultry and mercury in some exotic fish imports. The salmonella in poultry led to an export ban on some major Brazilian plants.

The UK will have to decide what role it will play in the alert programme after Brexit.

Scientists have urged the Commission to rethink its policies on innovation, if the EU is not to be left behind in the global biological revolution.

The call came from German scientists and followed a European court ruling that extended complex rules on genetically modified crops to other forms of plant breeding.

The independent Bio-economy Council says the EU cannot do justice to the challenges and opportunities science offers.

They also rejected labelling based on the science used as impractical.

This will be another issue the UK will have to tackle after Brexit and decide whether to be more pro-technology than the European model it will escape.

Meanwhile, Greenpeace has criticised the Commission for not allowing green groups to participate in the EU informal farm council in Austria and claims it should have the same access to ministers as farm lobby organisations.

Agriculture and food trade are continuing to do well in the EU, according to the latest report from the Commission which show trade is holding form with exports of around 11.5 billion euro a month.

This reflects a good euro/us dollar trading relationship. Imports fell slightly, although those from the US rose.