Chicken importers are on a mission to get more and cheaper mechanically deboned meat (MDM) into South Africa, but the facts don’t always support their good story. And sometimes there’s a back story that isn’t told.
MDM is a chicken paste used in the production of processed meats such as polony and sausages. It is imported in substantial quantities, mainly from Brazil, and comes in duty free.
In an interview with TV station ENCA, Fred Hume, MD of meat importers Hume International, said South African health regulations meant that the country paid double what a country like the Philippines paid for Brazilian MDM – $1 000 per tonne compared to $500 per tonne in the Philippines.
He criticised in particular South Africa’s refusal to allow heat treatment of MDM imports in the country, saying it could be done without compromising health standards or food safety.
He also accused South Africa of resisting the division of meat exporting countries into geographical compartments. Compartmentalisation, or regionalisation, allows for exports to be banned only from affected regions in the event of a disease outbreak, instead of from the entire country.
This is where the back story comes in.
Brazil, the world’s largest chicken exporter, has so far been free of bird flu, but an outbreak could happen at any time. Brazil has proposed to the South African authorities that, if bird flu struck, South Africa should allow MDM imports to continue, provided they are heat treated after import.
This has been rejected, with South African authorities understandably reluctant to allow potentially infected meat into the country. They have insisted that heat treatment should happen in Brazil prior to export. There has so far been no resolution to this impasse.
There is similarly no bird flu compartmentalisation agreement with Brazil, and an outbreak of bird flu would result in all Brazilian poultry imports being banned from South Africa. This would result in huge losses, not only for Brazil but for importers like Hume.
If Brazil wants compartmentalisation, it is up to them to apply for it. Discussions were started but not concluded. There is a compartmentalisation agreement with Brazil regarding Newcastle disease – after a recent outbreak, South Africa banned poultry imports only from the one province involved.
In the meantime, Hume fumes about compartmentalisation and heat treatment, blaming the South African authorities when he should be urging his clients in Brazil to make decisions.
The ENCA interview was headlined “Chicken prices shoot through the roof”. Not only is this untrue – chicken prices have been dropping – but neither Hume nor the interviewer made any such allegation.
