JEDDAH, 8 August — Importers of frozen meat from Australia and New Zealand have given a written undertaking to the Commerce Ministry that they will not import any meat containing bone marrow residual, Okaz reported yesterday. The move was initiated by the ministry as part of its efforts to end the problems related to meat imports from the two countries. Abdullah Hashem Sabbak, acting director of the quality control laboratory in Jeddah, confirmed that the ministry has held 108 tons of meat containing bone marrow at Jeddah Islamic Port. The Arabic daily said the ban on Australian meat had raised the prices of local meat by 20 to 30 percent. Saudi Arabia imports 30,000 tons of frozen meat worth SR360 million from Australia and 24,000 tons worth SR220 million from New Zealand. People in the Kingdom consume 880,000 tons of meat annually, valued at SR26 billion.
