CROATIA'S FOOD SAFETY REGIME: ILLEGAL

UNCLAS ZAGREB 000528

SIPDIS


E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAGR TBIO HR SCIENCE
SUBJECT: CROATIA'S FOOD SAFETY REGIME: ILLEGAL
BOVINE IMMIGRATION

REF: A) ZAGREB 221 B) ZAGREB 251

1) SUMMARY: Croatia's food safety regime came under
intense media scrutiny after the bovine spongiform
encephalopathy (BSE) scare in Croatia in February
2006 (ref B). Additionally, there was much
speculation about unregulated trade in livestock.
The GOC cited the false positive for BSE as proof
that their food safety system works, but conceded
that the BSE scare also revealed that the suspected
cow had been purchased on the black market.
Econoffs met with Croatian officials to discuss the
GOC's food safety regime and in March 2006, the U.S.
Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) completed a
regular audit of the Croatian meat inspection
system. Overall, Croatia's food safety regime seems
robust, although FSIS expressed concern over some
reoccurring sanitation problems. The Ministry of
Agriculture is preparing a corrective action plan to
address FSIS's concerns. END SUMMARY

2) Head of the transmissible spongiform
encephalopathies department of the Croatian
veterinary institute, Branko Sostaric, said that
Croatia has tested about 74,000 cows (those older
than 30 months, dead animals, those exhibiting
symptoms of neurological disease, or by request)
since 2001 and that a false positive for BSE can be
expected in a sample size that large. Sostaric said
that the recent BSE scare was a useful experience
that accelerated actions already planned by the
Ministry of Agriculture, such as hiring 50 more
veterinary inspectors in high-risk areas for black
market cattle and closing some of the smaller
slaughterhouses.

3) In response to allegations that a black market
in livestock was operating in Croatia, Assistant
Agricultural Minister Stjepan Mikolcic said that
illegal trade in livestock was the result of a
change from one regulatory system to another, and
was not an endemic problem. Oscar Meuffels, the
Dutch agricultural counselor, discounted the GOC's
claim that illegal trade in livestock was not a
problem, noting that Assistant Minister for the
Veterinary Department in the Ministry of
Agriculture, Mate Brstilo, said in a television
interview that the black market "only" accounted for
10% of trade. When asked about the government's
investigation into possible illegal trade, Bozica
Rukavina, Head of Food Safety and Quality at the
Ministry of Agriculture, said that, to her
knowledge, the GOC had thoroughly investigated the
matter, taken action and did not believe this was an
ongoing problem.

4) Slavko Cvetnic, Secretary General of the
Croatian Academy of Sciences and Art and retired
professor of veterinary medicine, noted that most of
the small slaughterhouses in Croatia are located in
Split county near the coast and not in Slavonia,
Croatia's large agricultural area. Cvetnic said
that cattle are brought across the border with
Bosnia and Herzegovina and then slaughtered in small
slaughterhouses (there are over 200 slaughterhouses
total in Croatia) to satisfy increased demand for
beef during peak tourist season. Cvetnic and
Ministry of Agriculture officials said that the
process of bringing Croatian slaughterhouses in-line
with EU standards will result in the closure of
many, which will help curb unregulated trade.

FRANK