Saudi Arabia has taken major decisions to protect public health and strengthen food security. The country’s food and drug regulatory body has announced a complete ban on the import of chicken and eggs from 40 countries around the world, including Bangladesh.
According to a report by Gulf News on Tuesday (February 24), the decision was taken based on the high prevalence of bird flu worldwide and a recent health risk assessment. Saudi authorities said the list would be updated regularly to monitor the situation and the ban would remain in place until the risk subsides.
Apart from Bangladesh, the list of banned countries includes India, China, Pakistan, United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, South Korea, Egypt and Myanmar. Many of these countries have had restrictions in place since 2004, but some new countries have recently been added.
On the other hand, restrictions have also been imposed on partial imports from certain states or cities in the United States, Canada, France and Australia.
Currently, Saudi Arabia imports about $100 million worth of eggs a year, most of which comes from Oman, the Netherlands, Jordan and Turkey. And the main importer of chicken meat is Brazil.
However, although there is a ban on raw chicken and eggs, there is an opportunity to import processed products subject to meeting the prescribed health standards. In this case, the exporting country should provide a government certificate, which will state that the virus of bird flu and Newcastle disease has been completely eradicated through processing. Besides, the manufacturing company should be approved by the government of the respective country.
Currently, Saudi Arabia meets about 70 percent of its total chicken meat demand from its own production, while the rest is dependent on imports. As a result of this new decision, the stakeholders believe that there may be pressure on the poultry exports of the listed countries. Ensuring international health standards, especially for newly joined countries, will now become a major challenge.
AmarBangla/SAB
