Speaking at a conference in Brussels on 3 October on the economics of animal health, organised by the European Commission’s directorate general for health and consumers (DG SANCO), he said: “We have member states in the European Union where the majority of animals are kept in backyard farming”.
Speaking later to GlobalMeatNews, Thijsse explained that many animals in Romania, for example, are born and raised in the back yards of farmers either not educated enough to know how to ensure the health of their animals, do not have access to resources and information or are not even in touch with their veterinary authority.
As a result, he said the EU should invest in animal health education for farmers and also on early warning systems in eastern European member states that could detect animal diseases before they break out of a farm or its locality.
During the conference, Thijsse also argued that EU animal health investments have to be spent outside the EU, as some animal diseases spread from abroad, such as bluetongue, which came from Africa.
“It is not easy to find the right balance between the diseases that come from outside the EU and those in the EU”, said Bernard Van Goethem, acting deputy director general at DG SANCO, adding that much EU animal health investment has gone to Caucasus countries, from which the newest strains of foot-and-mouth disease have emerged. “We are switching from spending money inside the EU to spending money at the border and outside the EU to avoid diseases entering the Union”, Van Goethem continued.
The UECBV vice-president agreed with this policy, convinced that legislators need to focus more on where the source of animal health risks, rather than heightening biosecurity measures where they are already robust, as in western Europe. “Interrupting the trade flow is one of the most important things to prevent. In the case of the Schmallenberg and bluetongue diseases, trade suffered more than animals,” Thijsse concluded.