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The export of Lithuanian food products of animal origin has increased by 14% this year

2020 m. May 28 d.

According to the data of the State Food and Veterinary Service (SFVS), despite the global COVID-19 pandemic, Lithuanian producers exported 14% more of animal-origin production during the four months of this year than in the same period in 2019. This year, Lithuania has already exported more than 76 thousand tonnes of meat, milk, fish, eggs and their products. The export of Lithuanian beef, highly valued in Europe and around the world, has increased by 3% compared to the same period last year. Most of the beef was exported to Norway (446 tonnes) and Ukraine (250 tonnes). By harmonising the requirements of the veterinary certificate for beef export to China, 6 consignments of beef products have already been successfully exported to this huge market this year, i.e. more than 150 tonnes. "We should be glad that Lithuanian business, even during the pandemic, was able to adapt to the exceptional situation, maintain and actually increase the export volumes. Each consignment of foodstuffs exported to another country must be inspected in accordance with the requirements of international, European Union and importing country legislation, also the samples must be taken for the laboratory testing. Therefore, we organised the activities of our Service and the work of inspectors in such a way that the services necessary for business would be provided as quickly and efficiently as possible, even during the quarantine period, and the issue of certificates for the exported products would not be disrupted”, – commented Darius Remeika, the Director of the SFVS. This year, the export growth of all meat products is observed – it has increased by 23% compared to January-April 2019. The growth of export was mostly due to the production of 98 tonnes exported to Kyrgyzstan as well as the doubled export of meat products to Japan (72.4 tonnes) and the United States of America (71.3 tonnes). During the first four months, Lithuanian producers exported more than 35 thousand tonnes of dairy products. It is even 27% more than during the same period in 2019. In this group of Lithuanian products, the export volumes of cream, butter, cheese, milk whey, milk powder, etc. increased the most. Mainly, dairy products were exported from Lithuania to Kazakhstan (almost 4 thousand tonnes), the USA (2 thousand tonnes), Algeria (2 thousand tonnes), Malaysia (almost 3 thousand tonnes), Saudi Arabia (3.6 thousand tonnes), Vietnam (1.6 thousand tonnes) and other countries. This year, the producers of fish products also actively exported their production – the export of fish and fish products has increased by 11%. In four months, there were exported more than 37 thousand tonnes of fish and fish products, while in 2019 – 33.7 thousand tonnes. Ukraine and Moldova remain the main export markets.

Specialists advise to be careful when considering advertising claims for food supplements to avoid misleading

2020 m. April 24 d.

Under the ongoing quarantine conditions, violations of advertising food supplements online have been recorded by the State Food and Veterinary Service (SFVS). In the past time, advertising of food supplements, different herbal teas or other products with the declaration of an impact of their ingredients on the human immune system, ability to cure infections caused by COVID-19 or its prevention has been observed. Specialists of the SFVS emphasise that food supplements are classified as food products, they cannot cure diseases or safeguard against them. Therefore, their labelling, presentation or advertising must not contain any mentioning of healing or preventive qualities of the product, they must not contain any hints that the food supplement has such qualities. To safeguard consumers, eight investigations into this kind of violations are being conducted at the moment by the SFVS, including two cases for which proceedings for the violation of the Law on Advertising have been initiated. Consumers are reminded to be particularly careful in assessing information and claims provided in advertising, such as, for example, in case of a product, which is distributed through social networking and which is called “Nutritional energiser with preventive and healing qualities, intended to be used against cough, pneumonia, flue, bronchitis, cold”. Another example refers to the following functions, which are assigned to a protein: “Protein characterised by multifunctional effects and safeguarding the entire body against aging”. Our recommendation is also that the claims, which have no concrete meaning, such as “balanced for better quality of life”, have to be carefully considered as well. As a result of assessment of food supplements and their ingredients, investigations have been also initiated concerning the following claims: “Can help extract hazardous substances, which are present in intestines, and, along with them, leave the body in a natural way”; “Improves natural antioxidant response of the body, and, in this way, safeguards the body against aging and damage done by the environment”; “The herbal tea has been recommended by a pharmacist for families and individuals for the prevention of the Coronavirus, in case of flue effects, runny nose or cold”, etc. Only notified food supplements with the labelling in compliance with all requirements of legislation can be placed on the market in Lithuania. As many as 371 food supplements have been newly notified this year, while the total number of notified food supplements available on the list is almost 15500. The list of notified food supplements authorised for marketing in Lithuania is available on the web site of the SFVS at www.vet.lt/maisto-papildai. If food supplements you would like to acquire are not included in the above list consumers are not recommended to buy such food supplements as their composition has not been evaluated by specialists.

Vaccination of wild animals against rabies is launched in Lithuania

2020 m. April 21 d.

Today, on 21 April, the State Food and Veterinary Service (SFVS) is starting the spring vaccination of wild animals against rabies. 505 thousand baits are going to be distributed from aircrafts in the 50-kilometre buffer zone on the border with the Republic of Belarus and Poland. The vaccination is going to be completed by the end on May. With the announcement of quarantine in Lithuania, the work, which was planned for the end of March, had to be postponed for nearly a month. In the words of Adviser to the Animal Health and Welfare Division of the SFVS Kristina Stakytė, the vaccination of wild animals has been carried out in Lithuania systematically for over a decade, therefore, there are practically no more cases of rabies recorded in Lithuania. However, in the neighbouring countries, e. g. in Belarus, rabies is prevalent both among domestic and wild animals, therefore, there is always a risk of infected wild animals coming occasionally to Lithuania. Although the baits to be distributed comply with all the safety standards and do not pose any threat neither to human nor animal health, nevertheless, specialists warn the population not to touch or collect baits if they find them. There is a sharp membrane inside baits, which could cause an injury. In this case, the recommendation is to wash hands and, if necessary, disinfect the wound. A contact like this cannot bear any risk for the person to get infected with rabies as the vaccine is absolutely safe and tested. If a pet animal found the bait and ate it the recommendation is to observe its health condition for a few days and consult a veterinarian. Those baits are not hazardous to pet animals. According to specialists, the vaccination of pets and wild animals is the only effective way of fighting rabies. To safeguard themselves, people also have to avoid direct contacts with stray or wild animals. All owners of dogs, cats or ferrets must vaccinate their pets against rabies at least once per 12 months or, in case of a long-acting vaccine, in accordance with the manufacturer’s instruction. The veterinarian who performed the vaccination has to record the date and the duration period for the vaccine into the vaccination certificate or pet pasport. Last year, 314 samples were tested in Lithuania in case of a suspicion of rabies. Most of them were taken from wild animals (81 foxes and 64 racoons accordingly). Furthermore, 20 dogs and 20 cats were tested. All the testing results were negative. The latest case of rabies was detected for a dead fox on the border with Belarus in 2018. According to information published by the World Organisation for Animal Health, over 55 thousand cases of human deaths from rabies are recorded worldwide each year – mostly in the continents of Asia and Africa. The latest case of death in Lithuania was recorded in 2007 where a man of 42 was bitten by a dog while travelling in Italy.

The killing of pigs was completed in the ASF outbreak of Molėtai district during the weekend: over 8.5 thousand pigs were destroyed

2020 m. April 20 d.

The specialists of the State Food and Veterinary Service (SFVS) carried out the eradication of the African swine fever (ASF) outbreak, confirmed in a pig farm of Molėtai district (Čiulėnai sub-district), even during the weekend. In total, 8555 pigs were killed in the pig farm belonging to the company UAB „Takažolė“ (Toliejai village, Molėtai district). The processes of animal killing are controlled by the official veterinarians. Most of the carcasses have already been taken to the utilisation plant for safe disposal, and the rest is planned to be taken today. In the coming days, the disinfection of the farm and vehicles will be performed in the farm territory. All the transport means that have been used for the eradication of the ASF outbreak are disinfected. After the disinfection, they will all be additionally washed, cleaned and disinfected before leaving the farm. The preparations are also being made for the destruction of feed, medicines and other hazardous waste, work boots, overalls, gloves, etc. "We are devoting all our forces to the elimination of the first ASF outbreak in a pig farm of our country this year. The formed groups of specialists are maximally equipped with the necessary protection measures for the COVID-19 and work without counting the efforts and working hours. We aim to eradicate the outbreak of ASF as soon as possible and eliminate the threat of the virus spreading. The experts conducting the epizootic investigation also analyse the data from the selected samples and seek to determine the timing, causes, and routes of the ASF virus entry into the farm. In accrodance with the preliminary data, the disease on the farm was detected in the early stage”, – commented Darius Remeika, the Director of the SFVS.

The first outbreak of African swine fever this year was detected in a pig farm of Molėtai district

2020 m. April 14 d.

The State Food and Veterinary Service (SFVS) informs that the first outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) this year in Lithuania was confirmed on 14 April in a pig farm of Molėtai district (Čiulėnai sub-district). The outbreak of ASF was detected in a commercial farm, where more than 6.5 thousand pigs were kept. The outbreak of ASF was confirmed by performing a weekly monitoring programme for the virus, with the samples of dead pigs submitted to the National Food and Veterinary Risk Assessment Institute for testing. Currently, the restrictions on the movement of animals are provided for the infected farm, as well as the traceability of pigs and the assessment of where they were slaughtered. According to the preliminary data, the carcasses of farmed animals were not exported to other countries and distributed only in Lithuania. The warning signs were erected next to the farm, and preparatory works for the eradication of the ASF outbreak were started. The epizootic investigators collect the primary information to determine how the virus may have entered the farm, and additional blood and carcass samples are selected to assess the spread of the disease on the farm. A particular attention is paid to biosecurity requirements in order to prevent the spread of the disease from this farm to other pig holdings in the country. Also, in case of an unfavorable situation due to the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, a great attention is devoted to the provision of necessary security measures for the employees, performing the eradication work of the ASF outbreak. The protection and surveillance zones have been established around the affected farm. According to the SFVS, there are no non-commercial pig holdings in the region, but the specialists will carry out physical inspections within a radius of three and ten kilometers to ensure that no one is keeping pigs illegally. People who have any information about illegally kept pigs are asked to be public-spirited and to report it immediately to the SFVS by a free line 8 800 40 403 or to any SFVS territorial Unit. The SFVS notes that the main influence on the occurrence and spread of ASF is not the seasonality, but the compliance with biosecurity requirements. If they are breached, the infection from wildlife can be easily transmitted to pig holdings. In Lithuania, this case of ASF in the pig farm is the first this year, but the outbreaks of this virus are increasing in other European countries. Poland and Romania have already notified about the ASF outbreaks in pig holdings.

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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