Last Friday, the 10th, Germany confirmed an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in a herd of buffaloes in the state of Brandenburg, near the capital Berlin. The country had been considered free of the disease since 1988. In an interview with Agro Estadão, the Secretary of Commerce and International Relations of the Ministry of Agriculture (Mapa), Luis Rua, said that, in Brazil, “the alert is always on for all diseases of mandatory notification”, regardless of the international scenario. According to the secretary, since 2021, Brazil has expanded the areas free of foot-and-mouth disease without vaccination, which is considered the best health status by the World Organization for Animal Health (WHO). Today, this international recognition includes the states of Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul, Paraná, Acre and Rondônia. “I usually joke that it is easier to enter a country’s central bank than to enter a farm in Brazil, such are the precautions that must be taken. This has helped the country achieve this status of excellence. It is no wonder that Brazil is the leader in poultry and beef exports, and is increasingly advancing in pork exports, moving up to third place,” says Luis Rua.
Opportunities in the foreign market
Earlier this week, the United Kingdom and South Korea suspended meat imports from Germany, as a health prevention measure. Secretary Luis Rua points out that, along with Vietnam, the United Kingdom and South Korea are the three main destinations for German meat exports.
“Depending on the severity of the outbreak and the delay in returning to foot-and-mouth disease-free status, Brazil, which can already export to Vietnam and South Korea, may very well be one of the countries called upon to contribute. Brazil has product availability to deliver to these destinations,” assesses Rua.
Embrapa Swine and Poultry researcher Luíz Caron told the press that other countries that import German meat may also suspend purchases of the product. “The United States and the rest of Europe may impose an embargo on Germany and start buying from Brazil. However, this impact depends on whether this outbreak is unique, isolated, whether it occurred due to specific contamination on the property, or whether other properties are involved,” he emphasizes.
Reintroduction of foot-and-mouth disease in disease-free territories
The last outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Germany occurred in Lower Saxony in 1988, while in Europe it was recorded in Bulgaria in 2011, said the Friedrich-Loeffler Institute (FLI), Germany’s federal animal health agency, in a statement.
In Brazil, the last record of foot-and-mouth disease occurred in 2006, in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. The WHO is expected to release the results of the analysis in May of this year, which could internationally recognize the entire national territory as free of foot-and-mouth disease without vaccination.
The Embrapa specialist explains that the status of a territory free of foot-and-mouth disease without vaccination is the ideal scenario, because vaccinating the entire herd in a country is very costly. “In addition, in many cases, the animal may develop a lesion at the vaccination site. And vaccinating the herd is no guarantee that it will be free of the disease. Therefore, it is necessary to have a control system to ensure that the herd will remain free of foot-and-mouth disease,” he emphasizes.
According to Luiz Caron, in South America, the greatest risk for Brazil comes from neighboring countries that still face difficulties in carrying out sanitary control, such as Venezuela and Bolivia. The researcher explains that foot-and-mouth disease is a virus that is very resistant to the environment. “It can be easily transported, especially on colder days, on the soles of shoes, along with mud and cured, uncooked meat, and contaminated animal products. In fact, humans can carry the virus in their own respiratory tract for up to 48 hours,” he explains.
Caron emphasizes that foot-and-mouth disease is a disease that affects animals with cloven hooves, such as cattle, buffalo, goats, sheep and pigs, with very few reports of symptomatic cases in humans.