Food safety risks of imported meat from stolen and unidentified horses from Argentina
3.12.2020
Question for written answer E-006592/2020
to the Commission
Rule 138
Anja Hazekamp (GUE/NGL), Marc Botenga (GUE/NGL), Marisa Matias (GUE/NGL), José Gusmão (GUE/NGL), Fabio Massimo Castaldo (NI), Michal Wiezik (PPE), Jan Huitema (Renew), Mick Wallace (GUE/NGL), Manuela Ripa (Verts/ALE), Eric Andrieu (S&D), Martin Buschmann (NI), Niyazi Kizilyürek (GUE/NGL), Maria Noichl (S&D), Emil Radev (PPE), Róża Thun und Hohenstein (PPE), Clare Daly (GUE/NGL), Grace O'Sullivan (Verts/ALE), Carmen Avram (S&D), Hilde Vautmans (Renew), Sylwia Spurek (Verts/ALE), Jadwiga Wiśniewska (ECR), Harald Vilimsky (ID), Leszek Miller (S&D), Petras Auštrevičius (Renew), Eugenia Rodríguez Palop (GUE/NGL), Nikolaj Villumsen (GUE/NGL), Vlad Gheorghe (Renew), Emmanuel Maurel (GUE/NGL), Francisco Guerreiro (Verts/ALE), Martin Hojsík (Renew), Caroline Roose (Verts/ALE), Niels Fuglsang (S&D), Tilly Metz (Verts/ALE), Miroslav Číž (S&D), Viktor Uspaskich (Renew), Mario Furore (NI), Sylvia Limmer (ID), Virginie Joron (ID), Thomas Waitz (Verts/ALE), Ivo Hristov (S&D), Vilija Blinkevičiūtė (S&D), Ville Niinistö (Verts/ALE), Margrete Auken (Verts/ALE), Michal Šimečka (Renew)
A new documentary by AWF|TSB has revealed that the food safety of horsemeat imported from Argentina is at serious risk, as unidentified and/or untagged horses and stolen horses with forged documents are structurally entering the food chain through assembly centres and slaughterhouses.
The sanitary and phytosanitary standards that are being applied are worrying, as sick and injured horses, pregnant mares and horses with an unknown drug history are entering the food chain uncontrolled. Official EU audits have confirmed that there are traceability issues.
Recent investigations, included in this documentary, prove that updated Argentinian laws on traceability and animal welfare have not changed this situation.
How does the Commission assess the food safety risks of meat from unidentified, stolen, sick and injured horses that is entering the food chain and is being imported to the EU, and how does it assess the risks of contamination that arise from keeping horses near to piles of carcasses at the assembly centres?
Is the Commission able to dispute the information presented in the documentary and in the attached dossier, and if not, is the Commission ready to suspend horsemeat imports from Argentina immediately?
Why have the Commission’s actions regarding Argentinian and Mexican horsemeat been so different, given the very similar findings of EU audits in both countries?
Supporters[1]
- [1] This question is supported by Members other than the authors: Ivan Vilibor Sinčić (NI), Eleonora Evi (Verts/ALE), Annika Bruna (ID)