The department of agriculture will partially lift the suspension of imports of poultry products from Brazil, effective Thursday.
The South African government banned poultry products from Brazil after an outbreak of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), commonly known as bird flu, in the country's Rio Grande do Sul province in May.
The partial lifting of the import ban will be applied to all other states of Brazil, aside from the Rio Grande do Sul region.
Brazil is the largest producer of mechanically deboned meat (MDM) in the world, with 95% of MDM imported in the last 12 years coming from the South American powerhouse. MDM is used in the manufacture of polony, viennas, Russians, braai wors, bangers, frozen burgers, meat pies and corned meat.
The department said information from the Brazilian authorities demonstrated that poultry products produced outside the 10km radius from the outbreak were not affected and posed no health risk.
“We are glad that a month after the outbreak was reported in Brazil, we have been able to assess and confirm that risks associated with the importation of poultry and poultry products from Brazil are insignificant. We are closely monitoring the situation,” said agriculture minister John Steenhuisen.
The South African Meat Processors Association (Sampa) welcomed the announcement.
It said the partial suspension of the ban will avert significant shortages of affordable protein such as polony, viennas and braai wors on South African shelves.
Sampa added it will also help the manufacturing sector to retain the hundreds of thousands of jobs reliant on imports of MDM.
Sampa chairperson Gordon Nicoll expressed gratitude for the swift response by the department of agriculture, particularly Steenhuisen, deputy director-general Dipepeneneng Serage and his team in helping avert the full-scale social and humanitarian crisis that the ban imposed on May 16 threatened to trigger.
“While it will take some time for imports of MDM to reach our shores, the situation could have been a lot worse. We hope that this crisis will provide the blueprint for South African authorities should the remaining two poultry-producing regions of Brazil report HPAI outbreaks, so we can avoid any other breaks in supply in future,” says Nicoll.
Nicoll said South Africa did not produce MDM in any significant quantity and was forced to import the commodity.
Manager of consumer goods company Merlog Foods, Georg Southey, also welcomed the department's decision, describing it as a necessary move.
Southey said the decision to partially lift the ban could not have come at a more critical time as South Africa had been losing over 100-million meals per week due to the ban, putting pressure on food affordability and security, especially as Stats SA reports that up to 30% of households in some provinces face regular hunger.
“I commend the department and the minister of agriculture for responding swiftly to industry concerns and for engaging constructively with Brazilian authorities to implement a regionalisation protocol,” he said.
Southey said that by allowing imports from unaffected areas of Brazil to resume, the decision strikes a vital balance between biosecurity and national food needs.
However, he said there were clear lessons to be learnt from the time it took to lift the ban — lessons we must apply to expedite future decisions in similar crises.
“Speed matters when it comes to food security. The principal agreement on regionalisation is welcomed and we look forward to the urgent agreement between the agricultural departments of Brazil and South Africa on the updated wording in the health certificate to allow the immediate resumption in trade.”
“At Merlog Foods, we remain committed to supporting government efforts, ensuring compliance with safety protocols, and helping secure the food chain and jobs of nearly 30,000 workers in our sector,” he said.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.