A recent court case brought to light several issues which concern public safety and the role of the Veterinary department to safeguard it.

It is noteworthy to underline that at the beginning of the third millennium, a number of scandals had mined consumer confidence in the controls carried out along the food chain. The BSE and dioxin crisis were the last problems EU citizen had to face and these propelled a complete rethink of the food legislation; the EU commission launched first the white paper on food safety and then the general food law, Regulation 178/2002 laying down the general principles and requirements of food law, establishing the European Food Safety Authority and laying down procedures in matters of food safety.

The latter stated that without clear traceability of food and feed, the internal market could be jeopardised. It defined traceability as' the ability to trace and follow a food, feed, food-producing animal or substance intended to be, or expected to be incorporated into a food or feed, through all stages of production, processing and distribution.

Article 18 of such regulation also clearly imposes that it is required for the operators to have systems in place to trace food, feed and animals and to provide the competent authorities such information. It imposes stakeholders to respect rules and regulations and impose competent authorities to sanction non compliances in an adequate matter and as ultimately, it aims to protect consumers.

The Veterinary Regulation Directorate carries out controls on the food chain from farm to fork. It implements the requirements the veterinary legislation having incorporated them even before Malta joined the EU. It has a sophisticated system in place that permits stakeholders to register premises, activities, goods and animals. It has built its credibility not only in Europe but also within the OIE, the World Animal Health Organization, a standardising body that works in collaboration with the EU and which rates the status of a country after having thoroughly assessed the programs performed.

Malta is being placed amongst the countries with the highest safety standards in relation to animal health and when the animal health status of a country is high, the food safety levels are high too.  This has been achieved by taking even harsh measures but always and also as requested by the law, by safeguarding consumers' interest. The responsibility of traceability of animals in the food chain is one of the cardinal principles of the guarantees of food safety.

The outbreak of a number of diseases and especially Brucellosis in the late 1980s triggered the importance of registration of livestock in Malta. This provides the necessary traceability to control and eradicate possible outbreaks. The registration of breeders, their farms and sheep and goats started in Malta in 1987 when the then Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries launched a programme for the eradication of Brucellosis.

It took a long time and considerable public funds to eradicate this disease. The last case of this disease was recorded in 2009 and it is only now that we are able to discuss the recognition of Malta as a State free from Brucellosis. In fact the Department has just submitted a dossier to the EU Commission that will be voted at the Standing Committee for Animal Health in March 2016.

With this dossier Malta can be classified as free from Brucellosis and Tuberculosis. This dossier clearly states that untraceable animals are a threat for both human and animal health. Untraceable animals create an enormous burden when investigations are required as it lengthens this process  and obviously increases the risks that not only animals but also human may directly suffer from the consequences of an epizootic outbreak.

Following the outbreak of Brucellosis, the Veterinary Services had to take draconian measures, as these outbreaks were the consequences of illegal movements of animals without traceability which were also consequently out of the routine animal health controls. This situation resulted not only in having Brucellosis spreading extremely fast.

Human health was also jeopardised as several people got infected, including government officials as these were and still are amongst the categories facing the bigger infection risks. Draconian decisions meant that all animals from infected herds were culled, including those that were not evidently sick as they were correctly identified as a potential source of transmission.

In this context, I now make reference to a recent court case of unregistered sheep in Gozo which was given vast media exposure and some incorrect claims were made.

The sheep owned by Mr Ganni Attard and held on the illegal holding at tal-Pirwilin at Gharb Gozo, were found by the Veterinary Regulation and  Phytosanitary Department on Friday 2nd November 2012 during inspections that were carried out on receipt of reports of breeding of illegal animals in a farm within the limits of Gharb Gozo. 

The Department immediately proceeded with the culling of the illegal animals but after putting down 215, the operation was halted, leaving around 200 ewes, lambs and rams, as the owner had filed a prohibitory injunction. The case for prohibitory injunction was decided on the 11th June 2014 against the accused and in favour of the Department. This was confirmed once again by the Court of Appeal which decided that the culling of animals that was taking place in November 2012 was an issue of public health and that the action was justified.

In this particular case, the illegal sheep of unknown origin together with the large amount of cheeselets present on farm clearly posed an evident threat to public safety. When we entered the premises, we found that a large number of cheeselets were produced in unhygienic conditions, and without the basic bio-security measures we had no option but to declare them as a risk to public health.

It was in this context that a fixed point was organised outside the farm to ensure the safeguarding of consumers' interest from the exit and consumption of any products originating from this farm.

There are other similar cases which are currently awaiting judgement in the Maltese courts. All of them posed a tremendous risk to the local food chain due to lack of traceability. The Veterinary Department is determined to continue its mission to safeguard public health, which supercedes any other aspect. 

Roberto Andrea Balbo is Chief Veterinary Officer - VPRD