RIYADH, 12 February — The Ministry of Commerce has warned businessmen against tampering with documents to sidestep the ban on importing meat products from European countries where the cattle are affected by the dreaded mad cow disease.
The warning has been issued following reports that importers deal in banned meat after tampering with documents showing the products' origin. An informed source said that some businessmen import banned meat products through a third country.
The Food Safety Committee at the ministry has also learned that some importers ship goats from countries where export of livestock to the Kingdom is banned to free trade zones in the Gulf region. The animals are slaughtered and frozen before re-exporting to the Kingdom, the source said.
The source also confirmed the devious methods used by some exporters in neighboring countries to circumvent precautionary measures taken by the Saudi authorities. The ministry views this practice as a violation of import regulations because it involves fraud and tampering with documents.
The ministry pointed out that it was not logical to presume that the huge volume of meat exported to the Kingdom from the Gulf countries originated in the region while these countries continued to satisfy their meat requirements with imports.
The ministry also instructed the quality control laboratories in the Kingdom not to clear frozen meat consignments reaching the entry points unless they are coming to the Kingdom directly from original sources. The products should also conform to the health regulations and other specifications.
The ban on meat imports from Europe follows reports of persistent cases in EU countries of the deadly brain-wasting mad cow disease, or Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE). Scientists suspect that people eating contaminated meat risk contracting a human version of the disease.
The World Animal Health Organization has said in a report that the disease affected animals in most EU states.
The authorities 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.
The current ban includes meat from Britain, Germany, Portugal, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Holland, Austria, France, Denmark, Spain and Ireland.
Saudi Arabia already enforces a ban on the import of livestock from many African states, following an outbreak of Rift Valley Fever in the southern part of the Kingdom last year.
The US Department of Agriculture says the Kingdom imports about two-thirds of its beef consumption, estimated at 100,000 tons in 1999.