March 11, 2013

Romania to strengthen monitoring on poultry imports

Romania's poultry imports are permanently monitored for salmonella, with all legal measures prepared for possible outbreaks, according to Ilie Van, president of the Union of Poultry Breeders in the country.

Van made the remarks after about 37,000 birds in a local farm were found contaminated with salmonella enteritidis.

Van criticised the National Sanitary Veterinary and Food Safety Authority for failing to offer explanations about the risks to humans when releasing the news.

The veterinary authority announced that the entire flock was slaughtered and about 53 tonnes of meat was destroyed.

"Where there are poultry flocks, there are also risks," Van said, adding that the authorities had taken measures according to European and world legal procedures.

The Union of Poultry Breeders controls 550 farms across the country, the top 15 of which produce 60% of the country's chicken meat, according to statistics.

Romania's poultry consumption amounts to some 400,000 tonnes, over 85% of which is produced domestically.