The import of pork from Brazil/ Ministry of Agriculture issues an important announcement

2024-10-05 19:43:00, Aktualitet CNA

Ministry of Agriculture

The Ministry of Agriculture came out this Saturday with an important announcement regarding the import of meat from Brazil.

The ministry says that Albania has long banned the importation of cargoes of pork with Ractpamia from the Latin American country.

"In the obligation to inform the public about food safety in the country, we inform you that Albania does not import pork with Ractpamia from Brazil and from any other country! Law no. 10465 dated 29.9.2011 "On the veterinary service in the Republic of Albania", amended, in article 82 point 2 does not allow the use of hormonal PMVs, beta-agonists and thyrostatics for increasing muscle mass and reducing fat in animals that produce food, but allows their use only if they are approved by the European Commission and only for therapeutic, zootechnical and research purposes", the statement says.

Also, the ministry declares that Ractopamine is a veterinary medical product that is not registered in the European Union Regulation and is prohibited for use in food-producing animals.

Full statement:

In order to inform the public about food safety in the country, we inform you that Albania does not import pork with Ractpamia from Brazil or from any other country!

Law no. 10465 dated 29.9.2011 "On the veterinary service in the Republic of Albania", amended, in article 82 point 2 does not allow the use of hormonal PMVs, beta-agonists and thyrostatics for increasing muscle mass and reducing fat in animals that produce food, but allows their use only if they are approved by the European Commission and only for therapeutic, zootechnical and research purposes.

Ractopamine is a veterinary product belonging to the family of 'β-agonists' which are prohibited for use in food-producing animals in the EU under Directive 96/22/EC, with some exceptions for therapeutic purposes. This directive has been aligned in our national legislation and has been implemented since 2011 with the Order of the Minister of Agriculture no. 357 dated 21.12.2011 "On the conditions of trade and use in animals of certain substances with hormonal or thyrostatic action and of beta-agonists" .

Ractopamine is a veterinary medicinal product that is not registered in the European Union Regulation No. 37/2010 and that has been aligned in our national legislation with the Order of the Minister of Agriculture No. 15 dated 5.10.2010, amended and applied since 2010 .

Consequently, this substance has never been registered in Albania for use in food-producing animals and companion animals and is not in the National Register of Veterinary Medicinal Products.

From the 3-year monitoring (2022-2023-2024) by the structures of MBZHR, within the framework of the National Waste Monitoring Plan, there have been no Ractopamine residues in food-producing animals as well as in products of animal origin derived from them, this also for imported products since Albania has been implementing the Waste Monitoring Plan for imported products from third countries for 2 years.

We emphasize that the National Waste Monitoring Plan is prepared based on European regulations and approved by the services of the European Commission. Moreover, Albania is regularly audited by the services of the European Commission to monitor the implementation of this Plan. The last audit was in 2022, where it was concluded with a very positive report.

In addition to the above, every shipment of meat imported into the Republic of Albania is subject to documentation, identity and physical control by the National Food Authority.

The Albanian government has in its main focus the protection of health and consumer interests and the strengthening of food safety standards to guarantee a higher protection of the consumer as well as the opening of exports of products of animal origin to European markets and beyond.

For this purpose, we must not only transpose the European legislation, but also implement it in the same way as the member countries. This was also the recommendation that was given to us at the Bilateral Meeting. In this way, we will not close the import of meat, and not only that, but we will make it conform to the new rules resulting from the transposition of the European legislation into the national one./ CNA