The Minister for Agriculture has said there are trade implications but no human health nor food safety concerns following the Bluetongue outbreak in Irish cattle that has led China to suspend imports of Irish beef.
Bluetongue, a disease spread by midges, does not affect humans but can cause severe illness in livestock and deformities in newborns animals, and it has a high mortality rate. Bluetongue is so called because one of the signs can be swollen mouths and tongues.
The virus has been discovered in four herds in Co Wexford.
“This is a production disease, there is no human health, no food safety concerns at all, but it does have implications for trade, particularly trade of live animals,” Martin Heydon told Newstalk Breakfast.
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“With countries outside of Europe, it doesn’t have any implications on trade of meat or dairy produce and it has very little impact on trade with Europe, but beyond Europe to third countries, every country can set its own requirements in a trade certificate with us.
“So countries like China have protocols where we notify them this is a notifiable disease and then as a standard procedure they cease importation of that produce and we will engage, we will give them the full epidemiological breakdown ... we have massive traceability of our animals.
“We’ve seen it in the past when access has been broken and interrupted with China. Ultimately the timing is on their side. We engage with the General Administration of Customs in China ... and they are the competent authority there," Mr Heydon said.
“Officials from my department are regularly dealing with them and our officials in our embassy in Beijing ... identifying the fact that bluetongue and other diseases are more prevalent now and likely to come and don’t have a food-safety [impact] ... so we’ll continue to engage with them but ultimately the final decision will be down to them.”
Mr Heydon said although the Bluetongue-positive result was disappointing, it was not surprising as the virus was “rampant” across England, Wales and Europe.
“So we were monitoring wind patterns last year during the very warm weather to see when the wind pattern might blow the midge activity from France and from Wales and beyond.”
Bluetongue was detected in a Co Wexford herd through routine surveillance on January 22nd.
Since the initial detection, the virus has now been found in three additional herds in Co Wexford, all of which are near the first infected herd.
Bluetongue affects sheep, cattle, goats, deer, llama and alpaca and has a mortality rate of up to 60 per cent.
It was first detected in the Netherlands in September 2023 and has spread since across mainland Europe and Britain. The first case on the island of Ireland was found in Co Down last November.
