Theresa42
Well-known member
?Bird flu? smuggling attempt is revealed
Feb 28, 2007
ATTEMPTS were made to smuggle more than 17 tonnes of illegal poultry from China into Belfast at the height of an avian flu outbreak.
The consignment was seized by department of agriculture officials at Belfast Port in August 2005 but details have only just emerged.
At the time the far east was in the grip of the rampant H5N1 strain of avian flu and the world was watching with horror as the deadly virus was beginning to be contracted by humans.
China, one of the countries at the centre of the outbreak, is banned from exporting poultry meat into the EU.
The entire consignment of 17,380kg was destroyed by rendering [heat treatment].
Legal action against the importers is being brought by the Food Standards Agency.
Penalties for illegally importing meat, animal products or plants are fines of up to ?5,000 and up to two years? imprisonment.
The seizure was one of 138 made in the north in last financial year and 773 over five years.
These included meat products, fish products, dairy products, fruit and vegetables.
The poultry seizure was the first of such magnitude and the only illegal non-EU commercial import in that period.
China is widely thought to be the source of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu ? which was first reported among members of a Hong Kong family that had travelled to the mainland.
One person recovered, the other died.
Earlier this month the virus was found at a Bernard Matthews turkey farm at Suffolk in England.
There is speculation that it came via meat imports from the company?s plant in Hungary where an almost identical strain has been found.
Three cases against people found to have imported illegal meat into Northern Ireland have been prepared for prosecution in the past five years.
To date just one case ? brought just this month ? has resulted in a conviction.
It concerned the seizure of a consignment of raw meat and fish from the Philippines at George Best Belfast City Airport.
The importer was given a conditional discharge and ordered to pay court costs.
The produce was destroyed by incineration or deep burial at an approved site.
Department of Agriculture inspectors patrol Belfast City and International airports and the ports of Belfast, Larne and Warrenpoint.
Seizures of illegal food imports at the north?s airports have risen sharply in recent years.
Current legislation makes it illegal to bring back meat and milkbased products for personal use into Northern Ireland from countries outside the EU.
http://www.irishnews.com/images/28022007/frontpage.pdf
Feb 28, 2007
ATTEMPTS were made to smuggle more than 17 tonnes of illegal poultry from China into Belfast at the height of an avian flu outbreak.
The consignment was seized by department of agriculture officials at Belfast Port in August 2005 but details have only just emerged.
At the time the far east was in the grip of the rampant H5N1 strain of avian flu and the world was watching with horror as the deadly virus was beginning to be contracted by humans.
China, one of the countries at the centre of the outbreak, is banned from exporting poultry meat into the EU.
The entire consignment of 17,380kg was destroyed by rendering [heat treatment].
Legal action against the importers is being brought by the Food Standards Agency.
Penalties for illegally importing meat, animal products or plants are fines of up to ?5,000 and up to two years? imprisonment.
The seizure was one of 138 made in the north in last financial year and 773 over five years.
These included meat products, fish products, dairy products, fruit and vegetables.
The poultry seizure was the first of such magnitude and the only illegal non-EU commercial import in that period.
China is widely thought to be the source of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu ? which was first reported among members of a Hong Kong family that had travelled to the mainland.
One person recovered, the other died.
Earlier this month the virus was found at a Bernard Matthews turkey farm at Suffolk in England.
There is speculation that it came via meat imports from the company?s plant in Hungary where an almost identical strain has been found.
Three cases against people found to have imported illegal meat into Northern Ireland have been prepared for prosecution in the past five years.
To date just one case ? brought just this month ? has resulted in a conviction.
It concerned the seizure of a consignment of raw meat and fish from the Philippines at George Best Belfast City Airport.
The importer was given a conditional discharge and ordered to pay court costs.
The produce was destroyed by incineration or deep burial at an approved site.
Department of Agriculture inspectors patrol Belfast City and International airports and the ports of Belfast, Larne and Warrenpoint.
Seizures of illegal food imports at the north?s airports have risen sharply in recent years.
Current legislation makes it illegal to bring back meat and milkbased products for personal use into Northern Ireland from countries outside the EU.
http://www.irishnews.com/images/28022007/frontpage.pdf