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Romania can export beef to Turkey after two slaughter facilities in the counties of Calarasi and Bistrita-Nasaud received the relevant certification from Turkish experts; this is a reversal of the situation so far, given that since the moment it joined the European Union Romania was denied access to this market, Minister of Agriculture Achim Irimescu told agerpres.
"Ever since we joined the European Union we haven't exported live cattle and beef to Turkey because they massively opposed the market's opening to the EU over concerns about the bovine spongiform encephalopathy, also known as the mad cow disease. Recently, in the context of its bid for EU membership, Turkey revised its stance and unlocked its market for some EU countries. After performing a tour de force, Romania managed to also obtain from the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) the status of country with low BSE risk," said the Minister of Agriculture.
He argues that the reopening of trade in cattle and beef with Turkey is also the effect of negotiations with his Turkish counterpart Faruk Celik, and of approaches by the National Sanitary Veterinary and Food Safety Authority with the Turkish counterpart institution. Thus, following an audit mission between October 3 - 7, 2016 by experts of Turkey's Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Livestock, the first Romanian cattle slaughter units were certified for beef export.
In this context, Irimescu said that Romania's Agriculture Ministry needs to slightly change its policy on this segment in order to encourage producers to fatten the calves to an optimum weight because it adds value to exports.
As of June 1, 2016 Romania had 2.08 million heads of cattle, up by 0.2 percent from the similar period of 2015.
