South Africa: South Africa Attempts to Control Food and Mouth Disease Outbreaks

On April 11, the Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development announced that the country is battling 56 outbreak cases of the Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) involving farms and communal areas in the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, North West and Gauteng. According to the DALRRD Animal Health Directorate, the outbreaks currently troubling South Africa were caused by illegal movements of animals out of the FMD controlled zones in Limpopo. Following the loss of the OIE recognized FMD-free status in January 2019, the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) negotiated agreements with trading partners on the export of safe commodities, including heat-treated meat and dairy products, deboned and matured beef, scoured wool, salted hides and skins and livestock embryos. Although these agreements allowed for a trade continuation, China and Mozambique have implemented trade restrictions.