WORLD TRADE G/SPS/GN/3
25October 1996
ORGANIZATION(96-4483)
Original: Spanish Committee onSanitary andPhytosanitary Measures
INTERNATIONAL TRADE OFCHILE INPOULTRY PRODUCTS
(Sanitary measures relating tosalmonella)
Statement Made byChile attheMeeting
of8-9October 1996
Chile hasbeendistinguished byitsimplementation oflong-term sanitary policies involving
amajor investment ofhuman andfinancial resources, sothatitisnowfreeoftheprincipal agricultural
pests anddiseases thatrestrict international trade.
Itstrade policies inthevarious sectors havebeenaimed atpreventing trade barriers thatare
raised byapplying measures which areunjustified and,accordingly, havenoscientific basis.
Aseveryone isaware, Chile haseradicated foot-and-mouth disease andhasbeenfreeofitsince
1981. Nevertheless, ithaskeptupdynamic tradewithcountries thatareonthefoot-and-mouth circuit,
implementing risk-management policies formeatimports, unlike othercountries onthenon-FDM circuit
which continue tofollow no-risk criteria.
Inthespecific caseofpoultry imports, Chile hasbeenconsistent withthisattitude.
Asfarasimports ofpoultry meatareconcerned, thecurrent sanitary requirements came into
force inMarch 1992.
Theimport requirements aredynamic incharacter, inviewofthevarying conditions regarding
pathogens present inanimals andproducts. Hence, itisnotsurprising thatthese requirements should
beconstantly brought intolinewiththenewrealities ofsanitary situations intheexporting andimporting
countries.
Thechange inthesanitary requirements forpoultry products wasduetotheexcellent production
andsanitary standards oftheChilean poultry industry achieved inrecent years tomeetexigent export
markets inLatin America, Europe andAsia.
Chilean sanitary requirements, asfarassalmonella isconcerned, aresimilar totherequirements
imposed onourexports ofequivalent products oninternational markets. Chile exports under such
conditions toItaly, theUnited Kingdom, theNetherlands, Germany, Belgium, Austria andArgentina.
Atthepresent time, about 3,000 salmonella serovarieties havebeenidentified around theworld
andofthese 300arepathogenic forpoultry andforother animals.
InChile, thenumber ofpathogenic serovarieties, bothforanimals andforpeople, isverylow
andnotmore than10ofthem affect poultry.
Tominimize theprobability ofbringing inthepathogenic salmonella varieties thatdonotexist
inChile butdoexistintheUnited States andothercountries producing poultry meat, theChilean importG/SPS/GN/3
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requirement establishes thatitiscompulsory totakesamples forsalmonella inconsignments ofraw
poultry meatimported intoChile.
Since itisasample, thisdoesnotmean theconsignment asawhole isnegative anditcannot
thereforebemaintainedthat,informulatingtherequirement,usehasbeenmadeofthezerorisk,criterion
orcomplete absence ofsalmonella inmeat.
Compliance withtheruleisnotadiscriminatory requirement fortheUnited States, since it
applies toallcountries exporting suchproducts toChile.
Itisimportant toemphasize thatthereisamarked difference intheprevalence ofsalmonellas
observed intheUnited States andthose thatoccur inChile. Accordingly, ourcountry isentitled to
adopt thenecessary sanitary measures toprotect thehuman oranimal health, bymeans more specially
ofriskassessment anddetermination oftheappropriate levelofsanitary protection. Theprevalence
ofdiseases isespecially important inriskassessment.
Therequirements arenotdiscriminatory forforeign producers, since theAgricultural and
Stockbreeding Service, theofficial sanitary service, hasforexport purposes anofficially supervised
poultry flock programme (PABCO) which rigorously applies anepidemiological monitoring method.
Ninety-seven percentofChilean production ofbroilers comes from these flocks.
Asystem ofriskanalysis andcritical control points hasbeenimplemented atabattoirs forpoultry
forthedomestic andtheexport markets. Oneofthecritical control points isprecisely themonitoring
ofsalmonella. Thisisdoneatevery previously established inspection stage, inkeeping withtherisk
analysis.
Inshort, thesituation oftheUnited States poultry industry isoneofepidemiological risk,with
highprevalence ofpoultry-specific salmonellas andzoonotic diseases transmissible from poultry to
man. Thisrequires Chile toadopt preventive measures forimports ofpoultry meat products from
thatcountry.
Infuture, awayofsafeguarding thesanitary quality ofimports ofsuchproducts fromtheUnited
States might bethrough irradiated products. They could beimported inkeeping withtherulesofthe
chapter onirradiated foodofthenewFood Sanitary Regulations prepared bytheChilean Ministry
ofHealth, which isnowintheprocess ofissuing them.
Itshould beemphasized thatthemeasures imposed byChile onimports ofpoultry meatproducts
from theUnited States areneither discriminatory nortechnically unjustified andtheyareinkeeping
withtheWTO Sanitary andPhytosanitary Agreement. Chile isentitled toadopt sanitary measures
scientifically based onriskanalysis studies inorder toprotect human, animal orplant lifeorhealth,
aslaiddown intheAgreement itself.
Lastly, wearemindful oftheefforts oftheUnited States intheDepartment ofAgriculture 's
elaboration ofaplantoreduce salmonella, chiefly byriskassessment atcritical control points inUnited
States abattoirs. Inthiscontext, themajor establishments would take18months tomeettheguidelines,
middle-sized establishments would take30months andthesmaller ones42months.
Inanother connection, withreference tothesame product, theUnited States hasrecognized
thatChile isacountry freeofNewcastle disease, which isofimportance intheinternational system.
Chile isthusprepared tofulfiltheappropriate sanitary conditions forexport tothatcountry. However,
proceedings wereinstituted intheUnited States bypoultry producers, whorequested thesameinspection
procedures foranexporting country asthose usedbytheUnited States. Finally, afterseven years,G/SPS/GN/3
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theresult oftheproceedings wasthatequivalent procedures could beused. Thisoccurred more than
ayearago,when ourcountry requested entry intothatmarket. Atthetime, theUnited States said
that,before studying Chile'srequest, itshould lookintorequests byother countries.
Inanyevent, itisnecessary toclarify thatwearenotincluding thislastpoint asamatter for
consultation,sinceithadtoberequestedwithduenoticeandthepurposeissimplytopointtoprocedures.
Inthegeneral context, andconsistent withwhathasbeensaidinthisdocument about sanitary
developments incountries andnewtechnologies toobtain innocuous foods (irradiation), Chile stands
ready tocontinue bilateral technical talkswiththeUnited States toincrease mutual trade under this
heading.