MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil faces foot and mouth disease

Brazilian sanitary authorities have began vaccinating 4,2 million head of cattle along the Argentine and Uruguayan border in an attempt to prevent foot and mouth disease, FAM, from spreading into the country

Foot and mouth after jumping to Uruguay from Argentina, has reached the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul where at least five outbreaks have been "clinically confirmed". Federal, state and local authorities with the logistic support of the Brazilian Army will be responsible for the foot and mouth inoculation campaign plus enforcing the ban on all cattle movements and virtually closing borders to all animal and vegetable imports. Rio Grande do Sul together with Santa Catarina are the only two Brazilian states certified as free of foot and mouth disease without vaccination. Santa Catarina, to the north of Rio Grande do Sul, established 18 sanitary barriers to impede the access of live cattle and /or beef from the infested areas. These are the first cases since last October when an outbreak was reported in Joia county, Rio Grande do Sul. After locking the area off, sanitary authorities destroyed 11.000 animals. Brazil has a cattle stock of 160 million, and is the third world beef exporter behind Australia and the United States. The country is split into three main sanitary cattle areas, the south free of foot and mouth disease; another fourteen states free of the disease but with vaccination and eleven where FAM is endemic. Given the advance of the disease and with the purpose of setting recriminations aside, Mercosur members agreed in Sao Paulo to contract independent technical auditing to monitor the transparency of the sanitary procedures in the area.

European FAM test in Argentina

Argentina is optimistic about the results of the European Union sanitary mission currently assessing the extent of the foot and mouth, FAM, disease in the country.

"The members of the Standing Veterinary Committee of the European Union have promised a quick reply to our request for sanitary standards so Argentina can resume beef sales to the continent", said Bernardo Cané head of the Argentine Sanitary and Quality Agro-food Committee, SENASA. The mission arrived in Argentina last April 29th. and is expected to draft a first report by May 15th. If the report is favorable Argentina will then appeal the ban on beef imports that was imposed last March 13th. after Argentina failed to inform the Eur