Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 414: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food if she is satisfied that all imports of meat and meat products into this country are compliant with husbandry production and traceability standards applicable here; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24996/06]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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Detailed EU legislation lays down the conditions that Member States must apply to the production of and trade in products of animal and fish origin as well as to imports of these products from third countries. Under harmonized legislation a series of health and supervisory requirements are applied in the Member States to ensure that animal products are produced to standards that guarantee the safety of food and the protection of human and animal health. The application of these standards in the Member States is monitored by the FVO (Food & Veterinary Office) of the EU. It is a requirement that animal products imported from third countries meet standards at least equivalent to those required for production in, and trade between, Member States. All such imports must come from third countries or areas of third countries approved for export to the EU.

The FVO carries out inspections to ensure that only establishments that meet hygiene and health standards equivalent to those operating within the EU are approved. Where the FVO considers that public health requirements are not being met, an establishment may be removed from the EU approved list. If outbreaks of animal diseases occur in a third country approval to export to the EU is suspended for the infected regions of the country, or the whole country, as appropriate, until the disease risk has been eliminated.

Irish farmers are required to ensure that their production systems and farm practices fully comply with a wide range of EU Directives on important matters including traceability, animal health and welfare and consumer protection. I fully support the policy that animal products imported into the EU from Third Countries meet standards at least equivalent to those required for production in, and trade between, EU Member States. In this context I have been in direct contact with the Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, Mr Markos Kyprianou, concerning the sanitary rules applying to the import of livestock products, especially beef, into the European Union.

The Commissioner has assured me that the Commission will not hesitate to take the appropriate protection measures if a product, imported from a third country or produced in the domestic market represents a risk for the health of EC consumers, livestock or plants. He has pointed out that the adoption of safeguard measures in relation to imports, for example in the matter of dealing with the risk to the EU of the spread of high pathogenic avian influenza, in the finding of residues of unauthorised substances in poultry meat and in the quick and proportionate protective measures applied to imports of beef as a result of the recent outbreaks of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD), demonstrate the Commission's primary objective of maintaining the high sanitary status of the Community and respecting the EU's commitment under the WTO Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS agreement). I recently brought to the attention of the Commissioner the findings of an Irish delegation of farmers and journalists who visited the meat producing regions in Brazil and my Department is also seeking assurances from the Commission that the FVO will undertake further missions to Brazil to evaluate the implementation of the action plans submitted by the Brazilian authorities.