Germany’s minister for agriculture has met with stakeholders in the country’s agriculture and food sector to discuss the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in the state of Brandenburg.
Last week German authorities confirmed that an outbreak had been confirmed among a herd of water buffalo on a holding in the northeastern state.
Today, (Monday, January 13), agriculture minister Cem Ozdemir met with industry stakeholders for the first time to discuss the unfolding situation, and the possible consequences.
Following the meeting, Minister Ozdemir said (in a statement translated from German): “Our common goal must be to quickly push back the virus in order to protect the animals and minimize damage to our agriculture and food industry.
“The highest priority now is therefore to quickly provide clarity on how widespread the highly infectious animal disease is.
He welcomed the move by the state government of Brandenburg to extend, by 48 hours, a ban on the transport of susceptible animals (cloven-hoofed animals) and products derived from them.
“It was important to me to coordinate quickly and closely with the associations concerned. I take their concerns very seriously,” Minister Ozdemir said.
He noted that, under the EU internal market, trade with areas of Germany that are free from foot-and-mouth disease is still possible, under the principle of ‘regionalisation’.
“When it comes to trade with third countries (non-EU countries), we are doing everything we can to quickly enable exports to as many markets as possible.”
Minister Ozdemir said that his officials are in contact with Germany’s trading partners and are aiming to limit the degree to which other markets shut themselves to German agri-food exports.
The minister said his officials are calling on trading partners to take into account safe processing methods, and the regionalisation principle.
In other developments on the foot-and-mouth outbreak, the German authorities have said that a supply of vaccines are available for the serotype of foot-and-mouth disease responsible for this outbreak.
The Friedrich Loeffler Institute, (FLI) the leading animal disease research centre in Germany, has confirmed that virus serotype O was detected, although how it entered the herd of water buffalo remains unclear.
Suitable vaccines against this serotype are available in the German FMD antigen bank. This FMD antigen bank was established specifically for cases such as the current outbreak.
Once activated by the relevant state, the FMD antigen bank can produce the necessary vaccines within a few days, the FLI said.
Testing of all susceptible animals will be needed to determine the actual spread of the outbreak and whether or not the relevant vaccine will be rolled out.
