Loading ...Romania has asked the European Commission (EC) to extend by more than a year the transition time required to upgrade the milk processing units and to align with the European hygiene standards on the quality of raw milk, the National SanitaryVeterinary and Food Safety Authority (ANSVSA) said in a release on Sunday.
The Romanian authorities held talks with European Commissioner for Health Androulla Vassiliou, who ended a two-day official visit to Romania on Sunday, with the sides agreeing for the Romanian authorities to send the European Commission, by this July 31, an updated report with respect to the units for which they request the extension of the transition time.
The Romanian officials and the European commissioner discussed problems related to Romania's alignment to the European requirements on animal health and food safety. Vassiliou and Prime Minister Emil Boc held talks on Friday on the implementation of the European regulations relating the milk hygiene and the electronic identification of sheep and goat.
Boc said Romania joins the group of EU member states that want such electronic identification to be optional. The measure is inadequate amid the current economic crisis , due to the high costs, the Romanian officials argued.
ANSVSA chairman Marian Zlotea unveiled the action plan and strategy of his institution for the coming year. It included the Romanian action plan for stopping the vaccination against classical swine fever by year-end, with such a move offering the required guarantees for lifting a ban on Romanian exports of pork products to the EU countries.
Lifting the inside-EU export ban on pork products applied to Romania will not damage the implementation of the programme on monitoring, control and elimination of classical swine fever, quite the contrary it will increase the attention paid by the authorities and the pork industry to the close observance of all the set measures, he stressed.
The European Commission delegation on Saturday visited a meat processing unit in the southern Prahova county, that meets the requirements set by the European regulations for trading within the EU. Vassiliou voiced readiness to back Romania to resume the forward-processing trading of pork products inside the EU, with such products coming from areas and units that are safe in terms of swine fever and traceability, in case Romania meets the requirements set for the control of classical swine fever once vaccination stops, the release said.
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