On May 13th, ChileCarne’s officials met with SAG’s Livestock Protection Division to agree on a work program that consolidates what has been done and proposes new objectives for animal health asset protection, opening new markets, and animal welfare.
Since 2019, ChileCarne’s member companies have been part of a working group with the Chilean Agricultural and Livestock Service (SAG) that has set various objectives to preserve the country’s animal health asset and production free of diseases.
Juan Carlos Domínguez, ChileCarne’s President, met with Carlos Orellana, Head of SAG’s Livestock Protection Division, to consolidate the public-private work carried out to date and identify new challenges.
They discussed topics such as the work on the country’s borders to reinforce the protection of Chile’s animal health asset, which is critical for the sector’s productive and economic sustainability. They also analyzed joint initiatives for the opening, expanding, and retaining of new markets, a key element for the meat exporting sector, particularly pork, which exported 75% of its production in 2021.
In animal welfare and the prudent use of medicine, ChileCarne highlighted its support for updating national regulations on animal welfare in breeding, transportation, and slaughter of poultry and pigs. It also supports the public-private agreement for the prudent use of drugs.
“ChileCarne and Asprocer work continuously with Chilean public agencies that lead prevention, partnering to work on important issues such as preventing diseases of any kind that may affect our animals from entering Chile. This is why we value these spaces for dialogue and a joint program to prioritize the actions to be carried out. We appreciate the SAG team’s willingness to consolidate what we have been doing and prospect new actions that benefit the industry and the country,” commented Juan Carlos Domínguez.
It should be noted that ChileCarne’s member companies have supported the work of Chilean officials at the border in various ways. Monitoring is conducted at airports, ports, and border crossings with the support of the canine brigade, to which the industry donated 10 trained dogs; a KingFisher Flex machine was also donated to improve the disease diagnostic capacity of suspicious seized products; footbaths for sanitizing footwear were installed; and awareness campaigns were launched for travelers and supervising border personnel to prevent the entry of animal and/or plant products and help protect Chile’s animal health asset.
