Hate to say I told you so #horsemeat

One of the frustrating things about Europe's current horsemeat crisis is that welfare groups in Ireland warned the Department of Agriculture many times about the problems of horses being transported live to Europe. These animals were known not to have passports and dealers openly admitted (also documented in the UCD report of 2010) that forging passports to get horses into factories wasn't an issue.

For many years I have helped the Irish Horse Welfare Trust to try and heighten awareness of the neglect of horses and the issue of live transport. For cattle and sheep transported to Europe or elsewhere there are strict regulations on travel times and welfare, none of which exist for horses. Horses are not checked at Irish ports before they travel for health or individual identification. This free movement of horses under the tripartite agreement between England, Ireland and France was identified in the UCD report as detrimental to bio-hazard controls - laughable now we have proof that many of these horses were going for human consumption. Authorities here denied that Irish horses could be going into the food chain until a Dutch processor in Nijnegan was revealed last week to be selling Irish and Dutch horsemeat as beef. This piece of news closed the circle in effect, though it's still not clear whether this meat came from carcasses killed in Irish abattoirs or from the live trade.

www.IHWT.ie

What we also know is that of the five Irish plants who were granted licenses to slaughter horses to cope with the surplus of horses after our boom years, only two are operating horse slaughtering at present. Why? Because there are much larger numbers (the department estimates around 16,000 horses) going out live on lorries to Europe.

horse transport

If 12500 equines were killed in licensed slaughterhouses (excluding the knackery system) here in 2011, why the larger number of animals going for live transport with its additional costs? Think about it. You have to have a passport (albeit very easy to obtain) to bring a horse to a factory here. Not so if it is killed abroad, even in the UK. The USPCA have identified false passports and forged veterinary signatures used on passports of animals going on the live trade, some which have been dosed with bute or other drugs. So of course the numbers are bigger - it's far easier to get them into a factory in Poland or Italy than in Ireland, as loose as the system here is.

I have two horses, both of whom I could apply for a passport for tomorrow from the 12 agencies allowed to issue them and get both into a factory next week. That's no reflection on B and F Meats et al. It is an illustration of how the passport and identification scheme doesn't work. This situation has been pointed out to the department many times - by myself, the IHWT, the USPCA and the SPCAs involved with horse welfare and rescue. The lack of regulation has been boiling under the surface for so long that it comes to no surprise to anyone involved in horse welfare or movement that there is horsemeat in the food chain. Horses are sold in Ireland for as little as 10 euro. Last year I loaded up a horse with an IHWT officer outside Bray that had been stabbed in the shoulder and was living on a piece of scrap land with no feed or water. It had been sold to a 10 year old child for 30 euro. Doubtless, its destiny was a lorry to Europe before we got hold of it.

An IHWT project on urban horse welfare in Limerick

What has been of little mention throughout this debate is the welfare issues involved here. Horses are put on lorries that are injured, about to foal or dying. Can you imagine the hellish journey these animals go through without food or water to be slaughtered in hellish conditions like those filmed by hidden cameras at the UK abattoir.

What the horsemeat scandal has revealed is there is overwhelming problems with the equine identification and movement system. Vets need to go back into ports, and the passport system enforced. Having a scheme in place is nonsense without enforcement.

These points were put to the Department of Agriculture's chief veterinary office Martin Blake on Primetime by broadcaster Claire Byrne and myself in a segment on the horsemeat issue. It seems there is little admission of the scale of the problem or how long it has been going on for. All I can hope is that recent events will speed up the will to look again at the tripartite agreement. Something radical needs to happen about the welfare and slaughter issues at the heart of this trade, let alone the dangers for us humans the consumers. You can view the segment at the link below.

http://www.rte.ie/news/player/prime-time/2013/0218/

Women in agriculture? We could learn a lot from the tech sector

Two pieces of short news - I was contacted today with news that Olhausen the pigmeat processors and makers of the very popular Olhausen sausage are in talks with a buyer to save the company. While listening to tales of misery and woe on RTE's Liveline, this was a lovely piece of news to recieve. Hopefully a sale will come to pass for the 160 workers and an established Irish brand with a popular, longstanding reputation.

Tomorrow I am delighted to be MC at the Georgina Campbell Irish Food Guide awards with Bord Bia in Dublin. While no relation to Georgina, we must have some deep genetic connection as we both love good food. I've seen a run down of the award winners tonight and it's great to see some new establishments making their way into the frame and from parts of the country that we might have passed over as having a vibrant or high-achieving food culture. I'm delighted to be part of it and all of the award winners (24 in total) have really achieved the top level in their field. Being selected by Georgina for her stamp of approval marks them out as quality, authentic businesses whether they are a rural B&B or a Michelin starred chef.

Later in the week I'll wearing my reporting hat again for RTE from the Dublin Web Summit. Ireland is at the centre of a vibrant tech sector which along with agriculture is one of our indigenous success stories. Of particular interest at this years summit is its focus on women in business and looking at why tech has many female CEOs (globally) than many other sectors. On Thursday I'll be at the Leaders Lunch (pictured right) talking to Anne Heraty CEO of CPL, Sonia Flynn, director of user operations at Facebook, and Pay Pal's vice president of global operations Louise Phelan. This are big hitters in the

tech scene and it's wonderful to see the leadership they provide to others wanting to enter tech. Gender balance is something pertinent to agriculture which for many years was a very male dominated sector. I wrote about this recently in relation to large animal vets in Ireland and how women were now commonplace calving heifers on farms and wrestling animals into crushes. Outside factors have changed the balance in veterinary, largely due to the amount of females in the degree course. It will be interesting to see how the many female entrants into Ag Science and take up roles in agri-business and influence the standing of women in the food and farming sector. We know they are present in huge numbers in terms of food businesses and especially artisan food, but on farms actually in charge of the business the numbers are smaller, mostly due to traditional patterns of inheritance and land ownership. For example a woman has never won Macra/FBD young farmer of the year award. Four reached the finals last year, the highest number ever. Let's hope we see a woman take home the top prize soon, or a women at the top of some of our agri-business giants. In my experience when I research or interview ag voices in Ireland I am often surprised to find a woman on the end of the phone, whether it be on a research facility or a farm. One very able female food producer/farmer said to me recently she wanted her son to do the interview as she didn't think she could do justice to their business talking about it. Despite my encouraging she wasn't for turning, and I interviewed her son. As Nora Ephron used to say, women are often their own worst enemies. We need to take a leaf from the tech sector, get out there, get visible and get to the top. 

Avian flu back in the UK?

While I hate scaring the horses, the death of a patient in London from suspected SARS grabbed me by the scruff of the neck today. The news came hot on the heels of an announcement I noticed by the Saudi Ministry of Health yesterday stating that a new form of the coronavirus has been diagnosed in three people, causing the death of two of them; the third is still undergoing treatment. 

Coronaviruses are considered to be one of the common  agents of the common cold. The first case was a Saudi patient diagnosed in one of the hospitals in Jeddah; the second was a Saudi patient and the third a Gulf State patient. Both were diagnosed in London. The BBC are reporting that the present patient is still undergoing treatment, but an earlier case - a patient suffering the same virus who was transported to London has died. 

The death of these patients may or may not suggest another avian flu outbreak in the offing. While I don't like to scare the horses, one of my pet subjects of interest in the food chain are zoonoses - diseases that pass from animals to humans and have drastic effects in both populations. AIDS, ebola, TB, west nile virus, swine flu, and avian flu are zoonoses - diseases that jump and adapt from animal to human populations. As they are viruses they do not respond to antibiotic treatment. They are also talented at adaptation and mix aspects from one virus with another, allowing them to jump species and affect larger populations of both animals and people; crossing continents within hours and quickly spreading in alarming new ways.

Some scientists blame the prevalence of zoonotic diseases in recent years on the feeding of antibiotics to farm animals, particularly in North America. 70% of antibiotics sold in the US are given to farm animals. In Europe, feeding antibiotics on a daily basis to particularly pigs and poultry is now outlawed, but many countries such as Holland and Denmark still top the European tables on kilograms of antibiotic for kilogram of finished meat. This has lead to the prevalence of antibiotic resistance in both animal and human health, something being examined in Holland in terms of ESBL in chicken populations and how it has lead to untreatable urinary tract infections in the Dutch human population, particularly in older women and young girls. 

When I first came across this research and spoke with the academic in Holland who published it I was shocked to say the least. He told me that in countries like India where there is no upper limit on antibiotics in the animal population the problem is chronic, and many people now have common ailments that are completely resistant to the the first layer of antibiotics such as the penicillen family. They are also becoming resistant to the second layer and only the more rare and newly developed antibiotics are effective against them if at all.  The elephant in the room here is that because of the concentration in recent years on research funding into AIDS and cancer drugs, as antibiotic resistance increases, very few if any new antibiotics are coming on stream.

After digging further on this I found that there is also work being done on antibiotic resistance in animals and it's potential dangers to human health in Ireland at NUI in Galway. Currently they are sampling chicken breasts on sale here to determine how many are carrying ESBL markers. There is certainly awareness of the issue here and it's great to see research taking place on it. We also have much better controls on veterinary medicine in Ireland than in developing countries and less use of animal antibiotics in the food chain than the US and even some of our European neighbours.

While zoonotic diseases are different creatures their origins beg similar questions to be asked. Is intensive indoor housed farming of animals creating a public health nightmare for the future? Would  zoonotics have developed at the same pace without our past predilection for feeding antibiotics to livestock? Is there too little research (as the academics tell me) into how big the problem of disease resistancy is? 

One of the problems with both these health issues is that however well the EU food and veterinary agencies and the IFSA are here at tracking disease, we are dealing with a global food economy. A bird dying from avian flu in a Taiwanese street market can affect a human being in San Francisco within 24 hours. Animal housing, animal welfare and rules governing transport of animals and disease control are often much less stringent in these countries than certainly within the EU. What's heartening to see is that there is recognition of the huge dangers these viruses present, the question is are we coming up with any new ways to deal with them and particularly how to deal with widespread outbreaks? Options

For the moment I'm watching for news on the London case and what it's ramifications are. For Irish farmers avian flu is a nightmare that could shut down the distribution of chicken meat in a matter of hours. But it would need to present in animal populations close to Ireland first. Let's hope it's an isolated case and that before that day arrives, we can learn a more about how to deal with these diseases that both threaten our the health of our farming industry and our human population.  

Funeral planned this Wednesday for Ireland's "Good Food Sector"

Irish anti-GM groups have today announced a "Funeral Procession" in Dublin this Wednesday 12th for Ireland's good food sector following Teagasc's planting of outdoor GM potatoes. The planned procession will depart from Stephen’s Green (Wolfe Tone Memorial) at 12.00 pm on Wednesday and will arrive at Agriculture House via Dawson Street and Molesworth Street where "a requiem service will take place."
 

The groups involved in the march which include IOFGA and NO2GM, plan to present a spade to Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney to ask him to put a stop to Teagasc's GM trials. I very much doubt this is going to happen after the EPA have approved the trials to go ahead but protesting gives the many individuals and groups in opposition to GM potatoes a chance to air their grievances. Last week they applied in the high court for a  means to tackle tackle Teagasc's plans without GM protestors being personally liable for the costs of the action. They lost the case but I hear there are more challenges to follow so watch out for updates here. 

In this week's edition of the Irish Farmer's Journal I'm away from the topic of food and GM to write about farmers, their vets and what the large animal practice sector may look like in future years. During Ireland's boom, equine and small animal practices thrived and there was a fear that in some rural areas vet cover would decrease to the point of creating difficulties for many farmers. This was borne out in some counties such as Mayo but it's clear now that there is a re-balancing in the sector. 

Large animal practice is thriving and female vets are very much in evidence on farms. As they make up the largest number of veterinary students we will see a slow shift this direction, and happily, all the vets I spoke with in my piece saw a vibrant future in on-farm work. There have been difficulties in the past between vets and farmers (largely relating to cost of services) but I feel it's a relationship becoming less adversarial and more in tune with each other's needs. Animal health on farms and resulting productivity is becoming more and more important, and farmers and vets are clearly working more together in weeding out problems like BVD before they arise. Check out the piece in the Journal and it's available on their smartphone app version which is a brilliant news service. Coming up in later in the series I'll be dealing with food price inflation, problems for Irish pig farmers and Bord Bia's Origin Green - what the scheme means at farm level.