‘EU livestock industry at risk’

EUROPE’S livestock sector is being placed at risk because more stringent restrictions are not being imposed on importing beef from Argentina and Brazil in response to foot-and- mouth disease outbreaks in these countries, it was claimed yesterday.

Following a meeting of EU Animal Health officials in Brussels, IFA Livestock Committee chairman John Bryan said the European Commission did not go far enough in applying only a partial ban on the province of Corrientes, in response to a foot-and-mouth outbreak in Argentina.

“The only real protection for Europe is a total ban on all South American beef imports,” he said.