Poland moves quickly to prevent hoof and mouth
As the next food safety crisis sweeps across Europe, farmers and food industry officials last week praised veterinary services for taking fast steps to prevent hoof-and-mouth disease from spreading to Poland.
"There hasn't ever been such a fast reaction from the government," said Janusz Jedrzejczak, an organic farmer from southwest Poland who raises pigs and sheep, farm animals most at risk to contracting the highly contagious disease.
"Everything possible has been done," said Stanislaw Zieba, general secretary of the Polish Union of Meat Producers, Exporters and Importers (PZPEiIM).
Two weeks ago, Poland halted imports of live animals such as sheep, pigs and goats from the European Union (EU) and 13 other European countries. At border crossings, cars and trucks are being disinfected, and passengers at borders and in airports must walk across special mats to disinfect their shoes. In addition, all fresh food brought in by individuals is being confiscated to help prevent the spread of the illness, which cannot be contracted by humans but is deadly for cloven-footed farm animals.
With this latest in a series of agriculture scares hitting Western Europe, a siege mentality has set in and officials have begun to tally both the short- and long-term threats and opportunities for Poland's food and agriculture sector.
Despite decisive actions, government officials and farmers last week warned that if hoof-and-mouth disease spreads eastward, chances are that it would not be contained at Poland's western border. The disease is not only passed on through animal-to-animal contact, but the virus can also travel airborne.
"The situation is very serious," said Jacek Szymanderski, press spokesman for the Agriculture Ministry. "We are aware that if hoof-and-mouth reaches eastern Germany, it will make it here."
"We are very worried," Jedrzejczak said. His farm is less than 200 kilometers from the German border. While no hoof-and-mouth cases have been discovered in Germany, authorities there last week were testing animals showing signs of the illness.
The recent outbreak also threatens to halt exports of live animals to Western Europe, in particular sheep, during the peak pre-Easter period. According to Jedrzejczak, large lamb transports to the EU were postponed last week due to the crisis. If delayed for too long, profit will likely be slashed since smaller lambs weighing 13-16 kilograms fetch the highest prices. "Lambs grow daily," Jedrzejczak said. "The price goes down every three kilos." Poland exports roughly 100,000 sheep per year.
A more significant threat to Poland's meat sector is the EU commission's impending geographical risk-assessment report, which calculates the risk of BSE spreading to new countries, due to be issued at the end of March. While government officials repeat that Poland remains at low risk, large imports of meat and bone meal (MBM) in recent years from countries where BSE cases were later discovered could mean that EU scientists may stick Poland with the high-risk label.
"Increasingly it is being said that Poland will be recognized as a high-risk country," said Bogna Sikorska, an analyst with CDM Pekao.
Animal feed made with MBM is widely considered by experts to be the most likely cause of BSE in cattle.
Officials are taking a wait-and-see attitude before assessing how the high-risk label could impact the food sector. They are also quick to point out that regardless of the report's conclusion, the feeding pattern of local farm animals means that the likelihood of the country facing a BSE outbreak is minimal. "(It is) difficult to comment until they publish the report," said Wladyslaw Piskorz, an adviser to Poland's EU representation. "The concern of the authors of the report is that we had a substantial import of MBM from the EU over the years; this is supposed to be a subject of risk. Our arguments are simple, this MBM has been used exclusively to feed pigs and poultry."
Poultry and pork producers stand to gain most from the BSE crisis, according to CDM Pekao. A report issued in mid-February stated: "In the few months since the BSE scare developed, demand has already been seen to shift to pork and even more to poultry."
As a sign of the changing consumer demand, McDonald's Polska introduced its first pork product on the Polish market two weeks ago. While company officials say that the product has been in the works for the past two years, the BSE crisis impacted the timing of its WieprzMac pork burger debut.
"This is not strictly a reaction to BSE, this is part of a long-term plan that is being introduced," said Krzysztof Klapa, spokesman for McDonald's Polska. Sluggish growth in hamburger sales and changing customer preferences sped up the company's bid to introduce a product with a local staple, pork. "Sales of beef haven't fallen, but we are geared toward growth in sales," Klapa said. "We noted that some groups of customers have become interested in poultry and that helped to speed up the decision."
Klapa declined to release specific sales figures for any McDonald's Polska products.
While Polish pork producers may benefit from rising domestic demand, they will have to wait for the green light from EU veterinary officials before fresh pork meat and carcasses can be exported west across the Odra river. Because Poland does not figure on EU veterinary registers as a country free from swine fever, even though no case of the illness has been detected for almost a decade, unprocessed pork from Poland is not permitted in the EU. That may change later this spring when an EU delegation is slated to assess the health of the country's pig herds.
"While we wish our friends in the EU the best, the hoof-and-mouth outbreak means that we could benefit through export of our healthy Polish pork to EU countries," Zieba said.
