From January it may be necessary to test all British slaughter pigs for trichinella - even though they have been free of the parasite for over 20 years.

This is a classic situation where a European Union directive may be quite sensible for mainland Europe taut is likely - unless our current derogation can be maintained - to increase costs to taxpayers and producers and generate not one iota of benefit to the consumer,' said NPA regional manager lan Campbell.

Trichinella is a nematode that lives as an intraceflular parasite. Improperly cooked meat from an infected animal can cause the disease trichinellosis in humans, early symptoms being diarrhoea, abdominal pain and vomiting.

Whilst trichinella is found in pigs in some countries it has not been detected in pigmeat in Britain for 26 years. There have been only 35 reported cases of human trichinellosis in Britain over the past 30 years - and none of these was from eating pigmeat.

The European Commission wants tighter controls on trichinelia. This could mean all pigs finished outdoors - or even all finished pigs, whether finished indoors or outdoors - will have to be tested in future, at a cost to the producer or taxpayer of £1 a pig.

Currently Britain has a deroga- tion from saturation testing, provided it carries out a million tests a year on export carcases and no positives are identified. Foxes are also monitored. There is overwhelming evi-.dence that the risk of humans getting a trichinellosis stomach upset from British pork is as near to zero as makes no difference.

NPA and BPEX are therefore concerned that Europe's desire for extra testing will serve no purpose, whilst imposing an extra cost on producers and/or taxpayers, and ultimately on consumers.

In some continental countries there is a risk of trichinellosis, because wild boar can act as vectors. In Britain - where the problem does not exist - the greater amount of welfare-friendly free-range pig production means the cost burden of increased testing wili be disproportionately high.

 

Source: Pig World (http://www.piworld.info)
Related: NPA, BPEX