May 28, 2008

OIE hands FMD-free status to 10 Brazilian states

The OIE has now considered 10 Brazilian states and the Federal District as foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) free through vaccination, according to Reinhold Stephanes, Brazilian minister of agriculture.

OIE's decision will allow all 10 states and the Federal District to take part in foreign trade of beef. Only the midwestern state of Mato Grosso do Sul was not given the recognition and therefore, its sales of beef are still barred.

Stephanes said Mato Grosso do Sul is not given the FMD-free status due to lack of additional scientific evidence, but it should receive the status within the next 60 days.

The 10 states declared as FMD-free through vaccination are Bahia, Sergipe, Goias, Mato Grosso, Minas Gerais, Espirito Santo, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Tocantins and Parana. 

"At the moment this liberation does not mean any financial gain, as the global demand is so heated that we will soon no longer have cattle for export," Stephanes said in regards to the FMD-free status, which may provide middle and long-term perspectives as beef production is on the rise.

Stephanes said Brazil is investing much money in FMD so that they could quickly eliminate the disease if outbreaks come to occur.

In 2005, the states lost their FMD-free status due to outbreaks of the disease in Mato Grosso do Sul and Parana.