Brussels, 02/092015 (Agence Europe) - In a joint statement published on Tuesday 2 September, Commissioners Vytenis Andriukaitis (Food Safety), Cecilia Malmström (Trade) and Phil Hogan (Agriculture) welcomed the decision of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to open the American market to imports of meat and meat products from Lithuania. Russia, which has been applying a ban on European meat since summer 2014, is indirectly urged to follow suit.
“We welcome the USDA's announcement that the US will open its market exports of beef, pork, sheep and goat meat and derived products from Lithuania. This further opening of the market to another EU member state is a welcome step and is the outcome of the enhanced technical work carried out between the European Union, Lithuania and the USDA. The proposal reflects the good cooperation between veterinary authorities across the Atlantic”, the three Commissioners stress.
In 2004, the Lithuanian government applied for authorisation to export meat, poultry and egg products to the United States. Vilnius amended its application in January 2012 to include just meat and derivative products. The American Food and Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) evaluated and inspected Lithuania's inspection system to determine whether it is equivalent to the US system and concluded that the laws, regulations, control programmes and procedures established in compliance with EU legislation were also sufficient to achieve the level of public health protection required by the FSIS.
A hint to Moscow. “The US decision is recognition of the robust, comprehensive and successful measures put in place by the EU to control animal diseases and ensure safe handling and processing of food from farm to fork”, the three Commissioners stress, calling on the EU's other trade partners to follow America's example and to remove all restrictive measures on the import of EU meat. Russia, which has applied a ban on European food products since 2014, targeting meat in particular, was the indirect recipient of this call.
Additionally, the American announcement “comes at a time when farmers across the EU face particular difficulties”, the Commission states, assuring that it is “relentlessly working to open up new markets and alleviate these problems by removing existing barriers and increasing export opportunities for European producers”. (Emmanuel Hagry)