Hungary blocks Czech beef after mad cow case
A ban on all beef and cattle products from the Czech Republic introduced by Hungary’s Ministry of Agriculture and Regional Development two weeks ago is not expected to have a noticeable effect on the domestic meat sector, analysts and executives said last week.
But they said the Czech Republic’s first reported BSE case could increase suspicion towards beef from countries in the "third" risk category for BSE.
The European Union issued a report earlier this year that said BSE probably would occur in Central Europe, even though there were no reported cases at that time. The EU ranked Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland in the same category with Western European countries that had already reported cases of BSE.
László Zádori, secretary general of the Cattle and Meat Product Council, said Hungary imports virtually no beef from the Czech Republic. "We are beef exporters," he said. Three days after the introduction of the ban on Czech beef, the Czech Agriculture Ministry announced that the third round of tests on the suspected case of BSE had proved positive.
The authorities said the 139 animals in the herd would be slaughtered and tested for mad cow disease. Czech veterinary officials last week also ordered testing for all cattle slaughtered over 30 months old.
Immediately after the confirmation, Russia issued a ban on all Czech beef imports. From June 20, only boneless pure beef may be imported from the Czech Republic under the strict control of Russian authorities. Slovakia, Poland, Lithuania and Austria also suspended the imports of Czech beef products, while Hungary decided to restrict imports to beef tested for BSE.
