(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) At a meeting of representatives of food safety committees of Oman, the UAE and Saudi Arabia held last month, the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) agreed to lift a ban on export of meat from the sultanate.
SFDA had imposed a temporary ban in 2012 on the import of beef, mutton and frozen or canned meat from Oman because of foot and mouth disease in the country.
Haitham Khalfan al Akhzami, director of food monitoring at the Ministry of Regional Municipalities and Water Resources (MRMWR), who attended the food safety committee meeting said that it was held mainly to discuss the procedures and regulations regarding export of meat from Oman and the UAE.
At an earlier meeting in June this year, although the issue was discussed it was only in the current meeting that the decision to lift the ban completely was taken.
Akzhami said the ban was uncalled for as both Oman and Saudi Arabia were affected by the presence of foot and mouth disease. ''Therefore, as per World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) regarding the export of cow meat from countries that have this disease, a decision to ban export should not be imposed.''
He, however, added that the ban was extended because Saudi Arabia wanted certain conditions and specifications to be laid down within the sultanate for future exports. ''Saudi authorities wanted slaughter houses and manufacturing units to follow certain technical and health standards,'' he said.
He added that not much meat export takes place from Oman to Saudi, but by addressing the current Saudi concern, the sector can look forward to doing more business with it. The meeting also proposed to allow the Emirati factories which had been checked and approved by SFDA to export meat products to Saudi Arabia.
During the foot and mouth disease scare in 2012, Oman's Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries had announced that meat available in the sultanate was fit for human consumption and did not pose any health risk.
The ministry statement had said that reports of OIE indicate that foot and mouth disease is one of the endemic diseases in the Arabian Peninsula and Middle East, including Saudi Arabia. The virus has seven genes. While only one gene was registered in the sultanate, more than one gene was registered in Saudi Arabia.
As per WHO protocol, the disease has been classified in the third list - the diseases that have limited risk on animal health and hence it is not considered as a major risk source for bilateral trade exchange. Further, the disease does not pose a risk to human health, as no such infections have been registered for almost half a century.
GCC states in July this year lifted the ban on the export of Irish beef and sheep meat to Gulf countries. The GCC formally lifted the ban which had been put in place more than ten years ago because of concerns related to BSE (Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, commonly known as mad cow disease) and scrapie disease.<
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