RIYADH, 25 January — Saudi Arabia yesterday expanded a temporary ban it imposed on beef imports to four more European countries including Italy, Sweden, Greece and Finland due to concerns over the mad cow disease. The Commerce Ministry said the measure was taken following reports that the deadly disease had spread in all European Union states.
"The decision to impose a temporary ban on beef imports from Italy, Sweden, Greece and Finland was taken in public interest and to protect the health of consumers in the Kingdom," the ministry said. "We have instructed the department for laboratories and monitoring quality to implement this decision," it added.
Earlier, the Kingdom had slapped a ban on the import of all types of beef from Britain, Portugal, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, Austria, France, Denmark, Spain and Ireland. The ministry pointed out that European consumers had expressed their non-confidence in the quality of beef supplied in their countries.
It said the new countries were included in the standing ban "because the EU countries represented a single market, and it is difficult to identity the source of products coming from there or to control the smuggling of contaminated meat to other European countries."
The ministry had earlier advised the chambers of commerce and industry not to import any type of beef and mutton or their products from the European Union due to concerns over the spread of the deadly disease bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).
The ministry had also cited "cheating and collusion" between some departments in EU states to export products from Britain, where the disease first broke out, to Third World countries.
Saudi Arabia imports about two-thirds of its beef for local consumption, estimated at 100,000 tons in 1999. There is already a ban on the import of livestock from many African countries, following the outbreak of Rift Valley Fever in Jizan, southwest of the Kingdom.
