Mozambique: Elephants devastate crops in Macossa
File photo: Notícias
Livestock breeders and traders have been warned that they could face heavy fines should they disregard restrictions on the movement of animals or offer meat to the public that has been rejected by veterinarian inspectors.
The severe sanctions are defined in the draft Law on Animal Health currently under discussion. According to Thursday’s issue of the national daily newspaper “Noticias”, the fines would range from between 80 to 100 times the minimum wage.
The list of infractions covered by the draft legislation includes the deliberate contamination of products destined for human consumption with highly infectious pathogens such as anthrax, avian flu, or foot and mouth disease. Other serious offences listed include running production units without a valid sanitary licence, poor or false record keeping, and failing to send up-to-date information to the relevant authorities.
The draft law states that serious infractions include the “placing on the market food products from animals which do not comply with general requirements, and attempting to sell contaminated meat and derivatives that contain toxins harmful to human health”.
Proposed penalties include the seizure of animals, products, and equipment used in the infraction, and the cancellation of authorisations issued to the offender. The veterinarian authorities could order the partial or total suspension of activities by the offender and prohibit the issuing of new authorisations for up to a year.
The new law is being drawn up in response to a report written by the World Organisation for Animal Health, which found that although Mozambique’s legislation has some strong points, there were serious concerns regarding the legal foundation for the veterinarian authority to carry out its mandate.
Events in recent days have shown that there is also a weakness in the ability of the authorities to implement restrictions. There is currently an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the provinces of Tete, Nampula, and Gaza. Because it is a highly contagious disease, a total ban has been imposed on the movement of cattle, goats, sheep and pigs to and from much of the three affected provinces. Meat products from animals in these areas cannot be moved. In addition, the inspection of animals, particularly of the mouth cavity, is required on a weekly or fortnightly basis (depending on the districts) with the results reported to the National Veterinary Directorate (DINAV).
In the case of any animals authorised for transfer from the other districts in the country, they must receive a clinical inspection before they are moved, and must be individually identified. Animals being transferred to different destinations must not be moved in the same vehicle, and vehicles carrying livestock must be sealed. When the animals are unloaded, they must be inspected by the veterinary authorities.
However, despite these restrictions, a journalist from Diario de Mocambique found that the goat market in the city of Tete is still operating openly. When asked about the ban on the movement of livestock, traders admitted knowing about it. However, they argued that care was taken to inspect every animal’s mouth, feet, and tail “to gauge if it is infected”.
The paper found that the authorities were more successful in restricting the movement of cattle. A trader commented “the animals we are selling are from Tete city because we cannot fetch oxen from Marara due to the government bans”.
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