Coronavirus poses no risk in food. The circular from the Ministry of Health (later borrowed from EFSA) integrates the provisions and the recommendations adopted by the Italian government with specific measures relating to the agri-food chain. With the aim of guaranteeing the continuity of supplies, in conditions of absolute safety, even in areas subject to restrictions.
Safe food, NO to certificates'virus-free'
The circular of the Ministry of Health 2.3.20 - 'coronavirus emergency, veterinary public health and food safety'- is aimed above all at clarifying that the virus is not transmissible to humans either by domestic animals (and' domesticated ', farmed), or through food.
'First of all, it must be reiterated that at present there is no scientific evidence of the transmission of the virus SARS-CoV-2, causative agent of the disease COVID-19, from pets to humans and through food. Food safety continues to be guaranteed by current regulations and therefore any requests for certification in this sense and not provided are to be considered inappropriate '.
Certificates'virus-free' on food products are therefore completely devoid of technical and legal significance. In this regard, we add some considerations:
- the Member States they cannot hinder or tolerate obstacles to the free movement of goods in the Internal Market (unless scientifically demonstrating the existence of a risk and taking protective measures proportionate to it),
- private operators who adopt discriminatory measures against food originating from the Italian territory are exposed to censorship and sanctions by the national and European authorities responsible for supervising competition (antitrust),
- the European Commission it is responsible for overseeing the proper functioning of the internal market. And the omissions of dutiful official acts, as announced in other relevant cases, will not be without effect.
Food supply chains and public controls
Business continuity in the agri-food supply chains in Italy it is essential to guarantee the supply of primary goods (food security) and animal welfare, as well as the economy and employment in the territories. The Ministry of Health has therefore provided for specific measures to be applied to public veterinary checks and food production in areas subject to restrictions related to the Covid-19 emergency ('red areas').
Veterinary public activity
The activities of the services public veterinarians can be modulated in relation to control priorities. They can therefore be deferred, up to 30 days:
• scheduled checks for state prophylaxis and surveillance plans,
• animal custody operations by health kennels and shelters,
• activity of front office not strictly connected to the activities deemed essential.
They cannot be postponed vice versa, due to the risk (health and animal welfare) and the high economic impact:
• inspections on the farm in case of suspicion, and related management activities, of diseases subject to mandatory reporting, (1)
• veterinary checks provided for in the Plans on avian flu and African swine fever,
• controls related to alert notifications on food and feed (RASFF),
• home visits of biting animals, (2)
• veterinary inspections provided for slaughtering, including special emergency ones.
Production and zootechnical activities
Animal welfare needs and management postulate the continuity without interruption or deferral of the following activities:
• milk collection,
• collection of eggs from farms and packing centers,
• supply of animal feed,
• supply of products of animal origin and germinal material, including those from other EU countries,
• collection and processing of animal by-products,
• supply of veterinary drugs,
• reception and processing of carcasses derived from special emergency slaughtering, including in the 'red zones',
• treatment of livestock manure,
• management of food processing and packaging plants, perishable ones (in primis),
• the care and management of animals in zootechnical and shelter facilities.
Animal handling
Guarantee adequate conditions of animal welfare also require not to postpone the movements of animals to and from the restricted areas. In particular in the following cases:
• movement of living and slaughter animals, in order to avoid overcrowding of the structures,
• handling of chicks from hatcheries,
• capture of stray dogs and recovery of injured dogs, cats and other animals,
• slaughtering of animals, including special emergency ones.
Specific procedures validated by the ASL are established for the movement and traceability of personnel assigned to loading and unloading, of vehicles and of the routes taken.
The lesson of Italian veterinarians
To the vets public and private above all we owe the primacy of Italy, at a planetary level, in guaranteeing food security. We consider it useful to share a general note on how to deal with the emergency in progress, by professors Sergio Rosati and Luigi Bertolotti of the Department of Veterinary Sciences of the University of Turin. (3)
'The virus it is not the black plague but it is not even a trivial flu '. This is because we have no immunological memory or herd immunity. And if on the one hand - like the Nobel Prize for medicine Luc himself Montagnier recommends, you need to strengthen your immune system - this means that, 'even in the absence of severe forms, a large part of the population of working age would be blocked for weeks with imaginable repercussions on the national economy. Therefore we welcome the restriction measures currently in use to stem at least the main epidemic outbreaks'.
'The appeal what we do to students who have already developed a sensitivity and awareness on measures to combat animal diseases is to build on your knowledge and be an active part in communicating the risk, without alarming excessively but without underestimating the problem. '
The truth is that no one knows how it will end. The precautionary principle, if applied well, will never be appreciated enough if the health problem does not occur. While an underestimation of the danger, in the presence of an out-of-control epidemic, would cause the revolution to break out. The difficulty of making the right decision is a thin thread that binds these two extremes. '
Dario Dongo and Martina Novelli
Footnotes
(1) Pursuant to the veterinary police regulations referred to in Presidential Decree no. 320/1954
(2) Home visits of biting animals can be temporarily replaced by telephone interviews aimed at acquiring information on rabies vaccination, places of stay of the animal, any presence of symptoms attributable to this zoonosis
(3) The thin thread that binds the precautionary principle and the underestimation of danger. National Federation of Italian Veterinary Orders (FNOVI), 27.2.20
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
Graduated in International Relations at the Sapienza University of Rome, she followed the Master in Law & Foody Safety of the University of Bologna.
