December 17, 2010

EU to ban piglet castration by 2018

The EU has taken another step to ban piglet castration, whereby an agreement has been reached to stop castrations without anaesthesia by January 1, 2012, and a total ban has been scheduled to be implemented latest by 2018.

The announced deal is not so much of European legislation as a voluntary agreement between market parties. The European Commission initiated the talks and the European farmers' organisation, Copa-Cogeca, the European organisation for the meat sector UECBV, retailers, veterinarians, and the European animal welfare organisation, Eurogroup for Animals joined in. The deal was not officially confirmed as all relevant parties will have to give the result to their members.

Frans van Dongen, negotiator on behalf of the Dutch Product Board for Livestock, Meat and Eggs (PVE), said he expects all parties involved to sign the deal which states the abolishment of piglet castration and they include most of the European pig production. However, some exceptions have been made in the heavy pig production countries such as Italy which uses pigs for Parma ham production.

"As for the Netherlands, we had preferred to see that the Dutch course of 2010-2015 had been followed, but 2012-2018 is a good compromise. For many countries, it was still difficult to approve this." He added that the solution is better than waiting for Europe to come up with legislation. For exporting countries like The Netherlands within the EU, the deal opens the way for easier trade. Thus, difficulties involving boar taint and castration related issues will be a thing of the past.

In addition, on a European level, techniques used to prevent boar taint can have a unanimous agreement and detected at the slaughter-line. Van Dongen said, "Not only because research will be funded jointly, but mainly because everybody is working on one European solution that will be accepted in all countries."

In Germany, the deal has not caused a lot of agitation. Setting the date for 2018, however, is being questioned by feed and food chain quality watchdog, QS. Katrin Spemann, QS section leader agriculture and animal feeds, said that the deal is still too fresh to discuss at length with partners in the pork chain. "I can imagine, however, that it will be considered acceptable. As of 2012, castration is still possible using analgesia or anaesthetics and that is a practice being used in Germany on the basis of a 2008 document. We also agree that castration has to be banned."

Spemann continued to say, "We shall have to investigate as to whether the date of 2018 will prove to be feasible. A lot depends on what has been reached by that time to solve quality problems with other methods." An analyst agreed with Spemann, saying that it seemed impossible to focus on a date for a total ban.

Chairman, Annechien ten Have, responsible for pig production in the Dutch Agricultural and Horticultural Organisation (LTO) spoke of a breakthrough. "I did not think this could be achieved, but it is great. Agreements made are on a voluntary basis, but they have been made nevertheless. It shows that change is happening."

The deal mirrors an approach struck in The Netherlands three years ago, where castration without the use of anaesthetics was banned and a total ban will be effectuated by 2015. In addition, the matter had also roused discussions for some time in countries like Germany, Austria, Belgium, Norway, and Switzerland.

Male piglets are being castrated in order to prevent them from developing boar taint, which makes the meat inedible. In the UK and Ireland, castration has already been banned for many years, while in Spain and Portugal, castration has been banned in some areas.