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Exchange of experience with colleagues from Moldova

2021 m. September 08 d.

Representatives of the National Agency for Food (ANSA) of the Republic of Moldova are visiting the State Food and Veterinary Service (SFVS) this week. The SFVS experts demonstrate the system ensuring food safety and veterinary controls in Lithuania to the colleagues attending study visits here and help them to prepare for the audits of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE) on the compliance of poultry, poultry products and eggs with the requirements of the European Union (EU) and on residues of veterinary medicinal products, contaminants in live animals and food of animal origin, including controls on veterinary medicinal products. The guests will learn more about the official controls carried out by the SFVS, the operation of the National Food and Veterinary Risk Assessment Institute that performs risk assessment in the fields of food and veterinary, conducts food and veterinary studies, and performs scientific risk analysis. During the visit, the Moldovan delegation will also visit several Lithuanian establishments, which operate in the fields of broiler rearing, poultry slaughter and poultry processing, manufacture of egg products, processing salmon products, and frozen culinary products. The SFVS has been cooperating with the Moldovan ANSA specialists for a number of years. Being an important partner, the SVFS was opted for the implementation of the two-year EU twinning project “Further support to agriculture, rural development and food safety in the Republic of Moldova” (MD 16 ENI AG 01 19 (MD/37)). The junior manager of the twin project and Deputy Director of the SFVS Vidmantas Paulauskas comments on the results of the project, “The first year of the project was truly intense. SFVS experts took part in as many as 22 remote missions, official controls on establishments of food of animal origin, and trainings for state inspectors were organised during the further 7 outbound missions. The SFVS, together with ANSA staff, carried out inspections of slaughterhouses and poultry processing plants, egg packing centres, establishments with laying hens and broilers, ice-cream production facilities. Thus, this visit in Lithuania bears importance in practical terms of presenting our country’s businesses that comply with EU requirements and successfully export their production to non-EU countries." According to the Deputy Director, such projects provide mutual benefits, ensure close cooperation between the veterinary services of both countries and enhance international experience. Currently, in addition to the Moldovan project, the SFVS is running two other projects: the Technical Assistance to Support EU - Health of Ethiopian Animals for Rural Development project in Ethiopia in collaboration with Belgian and Swiss colleagues and a EU Twinning project to share expertise quality control standards in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The latter is being implemented together with partners from Italy and Hungary. The SFVS as a leader or as a partner has already successfully implemented a total of 9 Twinning projects in Turkey, Ukraine, Moldova, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, Serbia, and 3 other EU-funded technical assistance projects in Belarus, Serbia and Ukraine.

External audit gives a positive assessment to the activities of the SFVS

2021 m. August 10 d.

The Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety F of the European Commission (DG SANTE F) will continue the audit of the State Food and Veterinary Service (SFVS) delegated to it in the coming year, the findings of which have been assessed as good and very good for a decade. In Lithuania, the following 2 areas of the SFVS supervision will be audited in 2022: the control of imports of animals and animal products and the residues of veterinary medicines in animals and food products. In addition, there are planned 2 documentary checks: a documentary check of national antimicrobial resistance action plans and an analysis of specific procedures in contingency plans for the cases of contagious animal diseases. "One of the priority areas of our activities is the development of export markets and export promotion. It is essential that the activities of the SFVS supervision are properly evaluated. Positive and publicly available audit findings are a certain kind of recognition that the control system implemented in Lithuania is effective, we also properly implement the requirements of the European Union legislation and this ensures the production and export of safe and high-quality food products. I would like to point out that since 2011, the Directorate of the European Commission has audited the SFVS even for 34 times and our supervision has been assessed as good or very good”, – commented Mantas Staškevičius, the Director of the SFVS. The European Commission, in its role as a guardian of the Treaties of the European Union, ensures that European Union legislation is properly implemented and enforced during the audits. The task of the Directorate is to check the compliance with the requirements of food safety and quality, animal health and welfare, and plant health legislation in the countries of the European Union. The inspections cover not only the European Union countries but also third countries that export to the European Union. The findings of the inspections performed are presented in the audit reports, which are published on the European Commission's website. More information can be found here: DG SANTE audit map Characteristics of Lithuania

Exports of animal origin products keep growing steadily

2021 m. August 04 d.

According to the State Food and Veterinary Service, in the first six months of this year, Lithuanian producers exported more than 129,000 tons of food of animal origin to non-EU countries, exceeding the previous year’s exports by more than 20,000 tons. Therefore, according to this year’s first data on exports there has been an overall increase of 15 %. Compared with 2020, this year shows the highest percentage growth of exports in culinary preparations (36 % increase) as well as in fish and fish products (26 % increase). Meanwhile, compared to the same period last year, in the first six months of this year the country’s milk producers achieved an increase of 6 % in exports. As regards to the dairy products, in the first half of this year milk powder accounts for the largest export (more than 16,000 tons exported), cheeses and cheese products are in the second place (more than 13,000 tons exported), and canned milk products are the third on the list with export volume of 9,000 tons. Libya, China, the USA as well as Malaysia remain the main markets for milk exporters. Exports of meat decreased by 4 % between last year and the first half of this year, with beef accounting for the largest export (over 1,900 tons exported). The main export markets for meat remain Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, the USA, Japan, and Norway. The fish products were mainly exported to Ukraine and Moldova, whilst culinary products were mainly exported to Russia, Ukraine, and Japan. Lithuanian producers have been successful and stable in their priority markets, and the SFVS is consistently working on the expansion of markets for export. There is an ongoing process of negotiations with competent authorities of 25 countries around the world on the harmonization of new export certificates for Lithuanian production. Mantas Staškevičius, Director of SFVS says, “The SFVS has consistently set itself the objective of promoting domestic business and expanding export destinations for Lithuanian producers. Through participation in the Council of the Advisors for Promoting Lithuanian Export, together with representatives of other state institutions and associations we regularly hear out the needs of major exporting companies. With regards to this, as early as the beginning of this year we agreed on the certificates for export of poultry meat to Polynesia, New Caledonia, updated the ones to Hong Kong, and agreed on export permits for dairy products to Montenegro and for fishery products to Albania. We are also intensively preparing for the export changes to Great Britain.” Honey – one of the products particularly appreciated abroad is featured on the list of products exported by Lithuanian producers. The USA remains the main export destination for honey (over 0,768 tons exported). Nonetheless, the honey business in the country as well as the interest in bee products is growing, raising expectations for the volume of honey exports to grow gradually.

European Commission asks the public for proposals on animal welfare legislation

2021 m. July 21 d.

Following public comments on the lack of animal regulation in the European Union, the European Commission has decided to update EU animal welfare rules. This initiative aims to update EU animal welfare rules to increase the role of recent science-based analysis, broaden their scope and make them easier to enforce. The revision of EU legislation is planned by the end of 2023. The Commission is currently calling for comments and proposals on animal welfare. The consultation on the initial impact assessment on the revision of animal welfare legislation is open for comments from the public and social partners on the European Commission’s website until 24 August. Feedback will be taken into account for further development and fine tuning of the initiative. The Commission will summarize the input received in a synopsis report explaining how the input will be taken on board and, if applicable, why certain suggestions can't be taken up. Everyone can comment and give feedback on the announcement page for the initiative following the link: https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/12950-Animal-welfare-revision-of-EU-legislation_en

New cases of African swine fever have been reported in Estonia and Slovakia

2021 m. July 16 d.

The State Food and Veterinary Service (SFVS) informs that on 14th of July, 2021 ASF was detected in a commercial pig holding in Estonia (Harju County, Kiili Parish) where more than 1700 pigs are kept. According to the primary data, protection and monitoring zones that do not cover pig holdings have been identified. It was found that the nearest pig keeping place is 30 km from the focus of the disease. An epidemiological investigation is currently being carried out to determine the way the disease was introduced into that holding. The SFVS specialists report that this news is highly unexpected, since the last case of ASF in Estonian pig farms was recorded back only in 2017 and in the wild fauna (wild boars) in February 2019. Another case was found in Slovakia, Banská Bystrica. The focus of the disease was detected in a pig holding with more than 8000 pigs. All pigs have been killed to prevent the spread of the disease and an epidemiological investigation is currently being carried out. It is important to note that there is an active circulation of the virus in wild fauna in Slovakia, for as many as 1230 cases were detected this year. These outbreaks prove anew that the disease is in the wings and can strike anytime, thus all pig keepers should prioritize the implementation of biosecurity measures and comply with them on a routine basis. Once again, we call on pig farmers to be vigilant, to closely monitor the kept animals, to ensure that no unauthorized persons visit the pig keeping facilities and that farm pigs are separated from livestock grazing in pastures, also to feed pigs only with heat-treated feed. Visiting forests, harvesting berries or picking mushrooms also pose a significant risk for the ASF virus to be transmitted from nature to pig farms.

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2015 y. March 06 d.

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State food and veterinary service
State budgetary institution The Register of Legal Entities
code: 188601279

Address: Siesikų str. 19,
07170 Vilnius Lithuania
Tel. +370 5 240 4361
E-mail: info@vmvt.lt

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Published:
2021-07-09

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