Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/598356
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 8 NOVEMBER 2015 News 9 trees' for illegal substation Brussels flags bio-security risks in poultry farms In all salmonella-positive cases reviewed by the Food Veterinary Organisation, the Maltese authorities performed no epidemiological investigation in order to identify the possible source of initial salmonella contamination JAMES DEBONO THE absence of pest-proof doors, high grass and trees growing around poultry farms, and material stored against the walls of poultry farms, which could attract rodents, are among the bio-security deficiencies flagged in an inspection by the European Commission's Food Veterinary Organisation (FVO) in an audit carried out last Janu- ary. The report issued this week by the FVO claims that many of these shortcomings had not been identified or recorded by the official staff responsible for monitoring these farms. In other cases, some shortcom- ings, which had been recorded by officials during inspections, were still present at the time of the FVO visits. One recurring shortcoming was the absence of records of when pest control was carried out in the respective farms. Although this problem was re- peatedly recorded for the past few years no action was taken to rectify the situation. In fact similar shortcomings related to bio-security had been noted during the previous FVO audit in 2013. To address these shortcom- ings the Maltese government committed itself to ensure of- ficial controls to be carried out over a 12-month period on poultry holdings, with a prior- ity being given to farms, which tested positively for salmonella in the past. The report also reveals that when the supply of water to poultry farms is derived from private boreholes, the analysis to ensure water quality is per- formed by the operator of the farm on a "voluntary basis". The report reveals that dur- ing a visit to a farm using well water, the results of the water quality analysis were not made available to the audit team. In reply to the report, the gov- ernment has now amended the bio-security checklist to include the type of water used (munici- pal or borehole) and a certifi- cate of analysis will from now be requested whenever water derived from wells or boreholes is used. Shortcomings were also found with regard to disinfecting farms where there were salmo- nella outbreaks. EU directives and Maltese law stipulate that the operator should carry out an effective cleaning and disinfection im- mediately after a positive flock is exterminated. The audit team was informed by the Maltese au- thorities that the effectiveness of such cleaning and disinfec- tion must be verified by official environmental samples. However, in two broiler hold- ings visited this procedure was not followed as permission for restocking was granted by the Maltese authorities although such samples had not been tak- en. In all salmonella-positive cases reviewed by the audit team, the Maltese authorities performed no epidemiological investiga- tion in order to identify the pos- sible source of initial salmonella contamination. In one of the holdings vis- ited some flocks were sam- pled for salmonella more than three weeks prior to the date of slaughter. In another farm visit- ed not all flocks sent to slaugh- ter were sampled. The report noted an improve- ment in the implementation of EU directives since the last au- dit carried out in 2013, which dealt with the same theme. But some of the shortcomings in salmonella control detected in the previous FVO audit were noted again and new ones have been identified. jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt inflated membership the numbers published by the registrar are "real". "The numbers cannot be in- flated because they are audited and checked against the records provided by employers," Bugeja said, adding that the statistics are verified by the registrar eve- ry year. Confirming that the union's current membership stood at around 47,000, Bugeja explained that the figures can- not be tampered with because these are checked against infor- mation provided by the private sector and the government. But the Registrar of Trade Unions told MaltaToday that his office has never carried out a proper audit and is currently in the process of recruiting in- spectors, which would allow it to scrutinise the information provided by the unions. The registrar's office, which falls under the Department of Industrial and Employment Relations, said that discussions are underway to improve the process of union membership verification. The law grants the registrar the power to inspect the records of membership of unions at any time and trade unions are obliged to give the registrar "all reasonable facilities to do so." But such inspections are carried out at the request of employers at particular work places. Asked whether the figures provided by the GWU were trustworthy, the office of the registrar said "each year, all registered unions are obliged to submit a declaration con- firming that their membership records have been brought up to date." Yet the definition of what constitutes a member of a un- ion is established by the statute of the respective unions, which may differ from one union to another. jbalzan@mediatoday.com.mt