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200 tonne consignment of Botswana beef rejected by European Union
The European Union market has rejected a 200 tonne beef consignment from Botswana.
The move follows the Botswana Meat Commission’s failed chemical risk assessment procedure.
The Botswana Meat Commission, which had been banned from exporting beef to the European Union market, resumed last month, but their first consignment was vetoed because the level of antibiotics was above the limit set by the European Union.
Indications are that the meat came from 2,000 cattle from a feedlot where antibiotics may have been used for growth promotion, a development that violates the European Union strategy to combat the threat of antimicrobial resistance to human, animal and plant health.
The European Union’s strategy includes prohibition of antibiotics for non-medical use in animals and covers a range of actions at European Union and national level in the areas of data collection, surveillance, research and awareness-raising.
However, the Botswana Meat Commission this week said they recalled the consignment and intended to re-test it and sell to other markets that have different requirements on levels of salinomycin allowed for human consumption.
Salinomycin is an antibiotic commonly associated with fighting cancer stem cells.
Botswana’s Chief of Animal Health Stephen Ghanie negated assertions that the beef had been rejected, saying the the Botswana Meat Commission voluntarily recalled it, “as they have done before with other products”.
“The origin of salinomycin was traced to the feeds and the contamination has nothing to do with the Botswana Meat Commission,” stated Dr Ghanie.
He, however, could not explain why the beef was exported before all the necessary steps had been followed, nor how much the beef was worth.
The group stated that the Botswana Meat Commission had a good traceability systems and that was why they found the origin of the antibiotic quickly.
Source: Africa Business Review