Rabies outbreak won’t affect meat exports

KEY players in the beef industry say the rabies outbreak in and around Windhoek will not affect beef exports to the European Union.

Harald Marggraff of the Namibia Agricultural Union (NAU) said rabies was not classified as a severe livestock disease like foot-and-mouth. He said this was because the virus that causes rabies cannot survive for long in the open, making it impossible for the disease to be passed on to people who eat beef.”Business will continue as normal,” he said.Besides the European Union, Namibian beef is also exported to South Africa, Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).Uschi Hoebes, public relations manager at Meatco, concurred with Marggraff but said the situation needed to be kept under control.She said as long as Government was not declaring a national outbreak, exports would continue as usual.Veterinary officials at the Ministry of Agriculture were not immediately available for comment, as they were said to be out of office until later in the week.Regarding the ban on the importation of pork from South Africa, Hoebes said her company was getting normal supplies from local farms.”We are getting our pork supplies regularly from within the country and we are not experiencing shortages at the moment,” she said.The Ministry of Agriculture banned imports of South African pork following an outbreak of swine fever in the country’s Western and Eastern Cape regions.It is not yet clear how long the ban will last.A survey among supermarkets in Windhoek showed that pork and pork products were still available.Earlier, the Government indicated that it would import pork from countries such as Brazil if local farms cannot meet the demand.He said this was because the virus that causes rabies cannot survive for long in the open, making it impossible for the disease to be passed on to people who eat beef.”Business will continue as normal,” he said.Besides the European Union, Namibian beef is also exported to South Africa, Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).Uschi Hoebes, public relations manager at Meatco, concurred with Marggraff but said the situation needed to be kept under control.She said as long as Government was not declaring a national outbreak, exports would continue as usual.Veterinary officials at the Ministry of Agriculture were not immediately available for comment, as they were said to be out of office until later in the week.Regarding the ban on the importation of pork from South Africa, Hoebes said her company was getting normal supplies from local farms.”We are getting our pork supplies regularly from within the country and we are not experiencing shortages at the moment,” she said.The Ministry of Agriculture banned imports of South African pork following an outbreak of swine fever in the country’s Western and Eastern Cape regions.It is not yet clear how long the ban will last.A survey among supermarkets in Windhoek showed that pork and pork products were still available.Earlier, the Government indicated that it would import pork from countries such as Brazil if local farms cannot meet the demand.