The President of the Argentine National Health Department (Senasa), Bernardo Cané, personally headed a tour through the
European Union and Israel. The motive of the trip was to provide technical information to both of these markets, and in this way to begin to recover the trust lost after the systematic denial of cases of Foot and Mouth
Disease (FMD) by the previous authorities of Senasa.
Cané arrived at each destination carrying the details of the National Program of Control and Eradication of FMD, which is available –in English and Spanish- at the
Senasa website. The announcement of the plan on a national and international level is the main point of the clarification process Cané has been leading since taking charge of the health entity.
A principal mentor of
the anti-FMD plan, Cané promised when taking charge of Senasa that he would provide accurate and current information of the status, distribution and number of focal points detected in Argentina once a week, and he is
keeping his promise. According to the report received by the International Office of Epizooties (OIE), 412 focal points were detected in Argentina. An important number of these (301) were located in the province
of Buenos Aires; 30 in La Pampa; 31 in Santa Fe and 27 in Cordoba, the main cattle producing provinces of Argentina.
When speaking to European and Israeli authorities, the President of Senasa ratified his commitment
to maintain permanent communication in order to inform whatever happens in Argentina, not only to those region's authorities but also to the different links in the meat commerce chain.
Meanwhile, next April 30 a
technical-commercial mission will arrive in Argentina with the goal of controlling the local situation. Specialists will remain on Argentine land from April 30 to May 11. The results of the visit may be of vital
importance for the normalization of meat shipments to Europe. This is the worst crisis the Argentine meat industry has faced after the suspension of its shipments to the main destinations of its sales (USA, Canada,
European Union). Specialists value losses at over $500 million.
The exportation products that show the highest margin of loss are fresh meat and Hilton cuts. In the first case, during the first three months of 2001,
commerce was $67 million, 30% less than the first three months of the previous year. In the case of the Hilton quota, 5400 tons were exported to the European Union, 18% down from the same period of the previous year,
and at prices 25% below last year's.
Although the Canadian, US and German markets affected the Argentine meat industry after the sudden reduction of importation, the loss of purchases from other South American
countries has worsened the situation. Chile is one of the most important cases.
The breakdown suffered by the Argentine meat industry requires health, political and commercial measures in a short period of time -
effective and immediate actions.
More information on FMD can be found at a
