Philippines Reopens Markets For Irish Beef

The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Brendan Smith T.D., has announced that the Philippines hass removed the ban on the importation of Irish beef.

This was put in place in November 2000 following the BSE crisis in Europe at the time. Prior to the ban the market was developing well and over 12,000 tonnes of Irish beef had been exported to the Philippines in 1999.

The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has been working consistently since then with the help of An Bord Bia and the Department of Foreign Affairs to have the market reopened.

In September 2007 a delegation from Ireland travelled to the Philippines and presented a seminar on the safety of Irish beef which was said to be very well received.

Following on from that in May this year, Ireland succeeded in gaining 'Controlled Risk' status, regarding BSE, from the OIE (the World Animal Health Organisation), reflecting the success of the comprehensive measures implemented in Ireland to control BSE and confirms the safety of Irish beef in that regard.