Thanks to universal implementation of the control-method standards agreed by the OIE’s 178 member states, “a terrible disease, rinderpest, has been totally eradicated”, Vallat said in an exclusive interview with Globalmeatnews.com at the OIE’s Paris headquarters. The OIE also now recognises 65 countries as being free of foot-and-mouth disease, which he welcomed.
“Thanks to the implementation of OIE standards for 120 listed diseases, we can limit the spread of pathogens through the trade of animals and animal products. The respect of standards by exporting and importing countries is a key factor in limiting the spread of very dangerous diseases [both for animals and humans],” he added.
Vallat believes this is especially critical in the world’s highest-risk countries for disease outbreaks, mainly in Asia and Africa, where sufficient control-related investment is still often desperately lacking. With this in mind, he was quick to compliment the Chinese government for its speedy request for OIE assistance in assessing the situation regarding the recent H7N9 outbreak in several poultry farms this spring – as well as the openness and transparency of local officials, who have contained the disease.
In the current absence of any effective poultry vaccines, “biosecurity measures in live bird markets seem to be working” in China, through strict personal hygiene measures and avoiding direct contact with live poultry, he said.
In Vallat’s view, solidarity is key to any attempt at effective disease control, both within and across national and regional borders. Equally important is finding the often very delicate balance between the roles of the private and public sectors.
“We have very good examples of countries where the public sector tried to manage everything. These didn’t work well,” he says. But when a government’s role is too standoffish, “it opens the door for scandals, such as with horsemeat in food”, he added.
Horsemeat scandal
With regard to the recent European horsemeat fiasco, Vallat said he was not surprised that the situation was so severe and widespread. However, he stressed it was important to recall that the European Union [EU] has the best legislation regarding food safety, quality and animal disease prevention. “It is the only region worldwide with harmonised legislation, common obligations for all members, and very, very advanced obligations for production, transformation and distribution of food,” he said.
That said, he fears the incessant pressure within the EU for deficit reduction “has led to less public control and more responsibility from the private sector”, adding that this carries risk and can fuel “crises such as this horsemeat scandal, because the decrease of control automatically leads to this kind of problem”.
At least, Vallat stressed the scandal quickly became front-page news. He is convinced that such occurrences are commonplace outside Europe – even in the world’s most economically developed countries – with the public never becoming the wiser.
The paramount solution to disease control, in his view, is greater government investment. “I am convinced that a very small increase in public control [perhaps of between 5% and 10%] could prevent this kind of problem 100%,” he said.
European governments, in his view, may at last have woken up to the need for more transparency in food supplies, with the European Commission attempting to modernise the laws governing the most important aspects of vegetable and livestock-based food chains.
And while asking for more public spending at this time may not be easy, considering the wider costs of meat-related crises in recent years, priorities in resource allocation clearly demand radical rethinking.
Regarding the EU’s current, more fully integrated ‘farm to fork’ proposals, all the technology is available, he said, adding, “It’s a problem of cost. I am sure that the consumer would accept to pay more if efficient traceability from farm to fork was far more assured.”
One obvious reform is the ability to respond to food health problems more quickly. As for the horsemeat scandal, he said: “As always, the European Commission reacted too late. We need, in Europe, institutions that are more reactive [in the face of] crisis.”