MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

FAM outbreak cancels US sanitary inspection.

United States announced the indefinite suspension of a sanitary inspection visit to Argentina scheduled for next month following the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in northern provinces neighbouring with Bolivia and Paraguay.

The sanitary visit was the first step for the re-opening of the United States market to Argentine fresh beef exports.

Early this month when Argentine authorities confirmed the FAM outbreak in a pig farm in Tartagal, province of Salta, Mercosur member countries immediately and temporarily banned all meat imports from Argentina.

"The US visit suspension has no date", reported Jorge Amaya head of the Food Sanitary and Quality Operation System, SENASA responsible for animal and plant diseases.

The US market has been closed to Argentine beef since 2001 when the first big outbreak was reported.

However the Argentine Meat Exporters Consortium announced that Israel and Russia had reported that they would adhere to the European Union policy of accepting FAM outbreak regionalization. That is they will continue to purchase Argentine beef, mutton and other meats, clearly identified, from not contaminated regions in Argentina.

SENASA indicated that most border counties in the provinces of Salta and Formosa where the outbreak was first reported have been isolated. This means all abattoirs have been temporarily closed down and all animals susceptible of FAM vaccinated.

SENASA pointed out that the risks of contagion from the affected counties were limited since the area is very poor with subsistence farming and virtually no animals or products sold or transferred out of the region.

So far 78 animals in the farms involved have been terminated with the "sanitary" rifle: 58 hogs, 3 cows, 10 goats and 2 sheep, of which only 30 has symptoms of having been in contact with the FAM virus.

The terminated animals were incinerated and all live cattle in a 12 kilometres ring were vaccinated.

SENASA officials expect that Mercosur neighbouring countries will also accept the regionalization concept, and soon reopen their markets to Argentine meats.