Published January 18, 2011 07:53
The Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) of the European Commission has given the Namibian Central Competent Authority notice of their intention to carry out an inspection in Namibia from 31 January to 8 February 2011.
Meatco Namibia's facilities will also be audited during this time, although the names of the abattoirs to be inspected will be announced once the inspection team has arrived.
According to the brief from Dr. KC Dihawa, Veterinary Public Health Specialist at the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry, “the scope of the mission will be the evaluation of the controls over the production of fresh meat and wild game intended for export to the EU as well as the certification procedures”.
Dr. Dihawa says that, “the mission will follow up the implementation of the guarantees provided to the mission carried out in 2009”.
The second mission’s objectives will be to asses animal welfare standard at EU approved establishments where live animals are being slaughtered.
According to Meatco’s Group Quality Assurances Manager, Ms Rosa Katjivena, “this is nothing new to Meatco as Meatco has been exporting to EU for over 20 years. Hence, this is a routine inspection which is done yearly to ensure that the Namibian beef industry still conform to EU food safety requirements”.
Although each time an inspection was carried out it had been positive for Meatco, Katjivena said that, “We do not take it lightly, it was for the positive results that EU has been with us till now, therefore we ensure that we are complying to their standards and regulations in order to maintain trust and confidence.”
When asked if this sort of routine only happens with the EU, Katjivena stated that, “actually every country that we export to has its own set of requirements that we align ourselves with to ensure that we meet the market’s demand before we can trade with them”.