LAST UPDATE | 8 Nov 2023
TÁNAISTE MICHEÁL MARTIN has said he hopes China will be able to make a decision “in the coming months” on the continuation of beef exports to the country after it was suspended following a case of Atypical BSE being detected during the testing of a cow in Ireland last Friday.
The Department of Agriculture said that the decision was made by China and that the lifting of the suspension was at the discretion of the Chinese authorities.
BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy), commonly called Mad Cow Disease, comes in two forms, Classical BSE and Atypical BSE.
Classical BSE occurs when cows eat contaminated feed while the Atypical form is thought to occur spontaneously in bovine herds, according to the World Organisation for Animal Health.
This was the first Atypical BSE case detected in Ireland since 2020, the Department told The Journal.
In the statement, the Department said the animal did not enter the food or feed chain and that no health risks were associated with the detected case.
“Tests carried out at the Department’s Central Veterinary Research Laboratory confirmed a case of “atypical BSE” on 3 November. The animal in question was a 10 and a half year old cow and was identified during the Department’s on-going systematic surveillance of ‘fallen’ animals at ‘knackeries’.
“The animal did not enter the food or feed chain and there are no public health risks associated with this occurrence. Atypical BSE is a rare spontaneous event that may occur in any bovine population. It is not related to feed contamination.”
The Department also said that the detection of such a case “does not impact on trade generally” but that Chinese protocols mean exports have been paused.
“The protocol with China requires exports to be suspended pending submission and assessment of the epidemiological report,” the Department said.
“Therefore exports of beef to China are now temporarily suspended. The timeframe for resumption is a matter for the Chinese authorities.”
Speaking to RTÉ’s Morning Ireland today, the Tánaiste said: “This has happened in the sense that the protocol that Ireland and China has agreed provides for immediate voluntary suspension of the export of beef to China in the event of an atypical case like this emerging.”
Martin said that “the key issue” will be timing.
“We don’t have any precise timeline on it, but we would hope within a matter of months that this could be decided upon by the Chinese customs authorities,” he said.
Martin has been in China this week on a trade mission. He said that during the visit, he “highlighted the importance of beef and food exports in general”.
“They are very conscious of the grass-fed nature of Irish agriculture. I think once we sign agreements we have to follow through on the agreements,” Martin said.
“I think Ireland has done the right thing here, first of all notifying immediately to Chinese authorities and then following through on the protocol.”
Irish beef exports were previously suspended to China following the discovery of an atypical BSE case in the national herd in May 2020. Exports only resumed last January.
Also speaking to RTÉ’s Morning Ireland today was Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue.
He confirmed that China insisted on the protocol specifying this atypical BSE would cause a suspension in trade.
“It’s obviously a matter for every country that we export to what makes up the export protocols we have in place. We export to 70 countries,” McConalogue said.
“This particular atypical case, even though it wasn’t an animal that was destined for the Chinese market and indeed it was a fallen animal, the Chinese market is the only one of our 70 markets where it impacts on the trade where we have to temporarily suspend trade as a result of that,” he said.
“That’s the prerogative of the Chinese government. As an exporting country we will work to try and satisfy the needs in every way possible to all the countries that we actually export to.”
Brendan Golden, chairperson of the Irish Farmers’ Association’s livestock sector, told Morning Ireland that it was “very disappointing to hear” of the suspension.
“When the news broke yesterday I just felt, well everything seems to be going against us at the moment because we’re dealing with very high costs and everything over the last year or so,” he said.
He said he hopes the issue “can be resolved quickly”.
“I hope that the Chinese respond quicker this time round. We had this same thing happened back in 2020. And it was only last January that there was a resumption of the market there,” Golden said.
“It’ll be important that political pressure is kept now to try and resolve this quick but it’s just another blow at the moment.”
With reporting by David MacRemond
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