Saudi port authorities have seized 3,800 tons of meat from Australia, Brazil and New Zealand because it had passed through countries on an import blacklist, Arab News reported Friday.
"We believe that the meat passed through countries from where meat import is banned by the kingdom," the paper cited Hamad Al-Oufi, a senior commerce ministry inspector, as saying of the seizure in the eastern port of Dammam.
In March, Saudi Arabia announced a ban on all cattle imports from Europe, Turkey and Lebanon, in an attempt to prevent the spread of foot-and-mouth disease.
It also suspended imports of livestock from Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen last year in an effort to eradicate Rift Valley Fever, which has claimed 124 lives in the kingdom. ― (AFP, Riyadh)
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
