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After a long process, which began with the agreement for the establishment of a veterinary certificate for the export of raw pork and/or refrigerated or frozen offal from Spain to Peru, approved in 2018, Spanish establishments are able to export these products to Peru after the recognition of the equivalence of the Spanish inspection system for pork meat and offal.
Among the health requirements that the products must meet, is the stipulation that the products must be obtained from animals born and raised within the territory of the European Union. In addition, the country must be free of foot-and-mouth disease, rinderpest, African swine fever, and swine vesicular disease. The country also must not have had any cases of encephalomyelitis due to enterovirus or Teschen disease, and the animals must have tested negative for trichinellosis. In addition, the products must have been obtained in a slaughterhouse or primary processing establishment that has a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) System, be authorized for export by the relevant Spanish authorities, and be approved by Peru.
Once the veterinary certificate was approved, the next step was the qualification of establishments; finally the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPA) decided to request that Peru recognize equivalence for pork and offal.
The recognition of equivalence would mean that the Peruvian state considers that the sanitary measures implemented in Spain are sufficient for the sanitary protection of its territory and therefore it would not be necessary to grant approval to each individual facility.
The Peruvian authorities sent a questionnaire that included extensive information about the structure of the official veterinary services, list of notifiable diseases, control of swine diseases, emergency plans, food safety control, authorization of establishments, etc.
Once the information had been studied, the National Agricultural Health Service (SENASA) of Peru recognized, by letter, in November the equivalence of the system for the inspection of pork and offal in Spain.
Once this step was taken, SENASA, due to the difficulties in carrying out the on-site inspection because of restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, temporarily enabled the Spanish establishments interested in exporting until April 2021.
The list of establishments authorized for export by MAPA has already been sent, so exports can begin.
November 19, 2020/ MAPA-Boletín de Noticias del Exterior/ Spain.
https://www.mapa.gob.es
