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In a reply to a DA parliamentary question, the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Tina Joemat-Pettersson has revealed that various meat products - including water buffalo, donkey and horse meat - are being imported into South Africa from Brazil and India. This is despite meat from these countries being considered as posing a ‘significant risk’.

The reply does not disclose the names of the parties responsible for the imports, nor does it indicate why meat from India and Brazil is considered to pose a ‘significant risk’.

It is imperative that South Africa knows the reasons why the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries considers meat from these countries potentially harmful.

The DA will therefore be submitting an application in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) to the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries to determine exactly why this meat is considered hazardous, and who the responsible parties are.

According to the reply, the following types of meat are being imported from India and Brazil:

From India:
 

• 1 175 080 kilogrammes (Kg) of water buffalo were imported in 2011. (Imports were then suspended in May 2011).

From Brazil:

• 199 423 401 Kg of poultry meat, 61 000 Kg of horse meat, 100 Kg of beef and 48 994 Kg of processed pork, were imported in 2011.
• 211 436 319 Kg of poultry meat, 150 000 Kg of horse meat, 45 494 Kg of beef and 23 600 Kg of processed pork were imported in 2012.
• 67 562 548 Kg of poultry meat and 49 800 Kg of horse meat have been imported this year.

The DA trusts that the Minister Joemat-Pettersson will cooperate and respond to our PAIA application to provide us with the information requested. The public deserves to know.