EU draft new TB rules

Commission officials have taken the action, that would affect exports of bovines under 42 days old, after the Standing Committee for Food Chain and Animal Health (SCoFCAH) received expert advice on how to prevent the spread of TB from diseased areas at an extraordinary meeting last week.

The meeting was prompted after TB-infected calves from a TB hot-spot in England were exported to Dutch farms in June.

Early indications from the Commission text are that the export of calves under 42 days old would only be permitted from officially TB-free herds.

In addition to this measure, exports would only occur if:

• the holding is in a region where the average TB incident rate is less than 0.5 per cent, or

• all animals in the holding, except those under 6 weeks, have been subjected to negative results at an interval of more than three months and less than six months in the past twelve months, or

• all animals on the holding, except those under 6 weeks, have been subjected to negative results in the 30 days prior to movement, or

• the animals are consigned, through a channelling procedure, straight to their destination where they either stay until slaughter or until 42 days when they must be tested

A government spokesman, based in Brussels, confirmed that member states had reached broad agreement on the proposed measures but that certain members, notably the Netherlands, did not think they went far enough.

NFU head of food and farming, Kevin Pearce, agreed that the draft, as discussed, would impact heavily on UK farmers but added that further comment should be reserved until the final legal text is published for member state approval.

“There is still a lot of work to do from our point of view and the text is far from finalised. We are meeting with the Commission regularly to make sure that their draft is proportionate and not overbearing,” he said.

The Commission hope to have a legal text prepared for member states to discuss in October.

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