Authorities optimistic about use of export quotas on Moldovan products of animal origin to EU

Moldova hopes it will soon make use of the export quotas on products of animal origin granted by the EU. The Government has recently adopted a number of important decisions with the aim of improving the national food safety system and adjusting it to the European standards, Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Anatolie Gorodenco said, quoted by Info- Prim Neo. One of the documents sets criteria for assessing the health of sheep and cattle. The criteria include norms for supervising infectious diseases such as bluetongue, tuberculosis and brucellosis in cows that can pass to humans. For instance, brucellosis passes to humans in 60% of the cases when the milk is drunk not boiled and the cheese is made from non-pasteurized milk. In dairies, the disease is transmitted by air. “Though no such cases have been reported in Moldova, these norms should be promoted so as to raise awareness about them and prevent them,” Anatolie Gorodenco said. The Government also approved sanitary-veterinary norms that include bird flue supervision, control and combating measures. Three weeks ago, the executive approved the norms for supervising trichinosis in meat products. These norms will help remove a number of shortcomings identified by European experts, including those from the Health and Consumer Protection Directorate General of the European Commission (DG-SANCO), so as to obtain the status of third country for the export of animal products to the EU. Between 2007 and 2012, the European Union will be providing rising tariff quotas on fresh, refrigerated and frozen meat, entrails, different types of sausages and other meat products, dairy products and eggs. National specialists consider that in the near future Moldova could make use of the quotas on dairy products (dry milk for example), certain kinds of meat cans and eggs. The sausages could be exported later because besides inoffensiveness and quality, the national producers should also take account of European consumers’ tastes, the diversification of the products being a future objective.