THE HAGUE - Italy maintained a ban of pork imports from the Netherlands this week ahead of a meeting of European Union veterinary experts, the Dutch government said.
Italy, the second largest pork export market for the Dutch, on Monday halted pork imports from the Netherlands due to fears over contamination from a banned growth hormone. "Tomorrow all veterinary experts from Europe meet in Brussels. It (the halt on imports) will be discussed then," Agriculture ministry spokeswoman Simone Braun told Reuters.
Officials from the Netherlands, the world's third biggest pork exporting country, will argue at Wednesday's meeting that its pork is safe because its testing procedures were approved by the European Union.
Earlier this week, the German government denied reports in the Dutch press that it also planned to halt Dutch pork imports.
Braun said the ministry was also not aware of such a move.
"But Germany has expressed its concerns," Braun said, adding these concerns would also be adressed at Wednesday's meeting.
Germany is the Netherlands' biggest export market of pork.
The EU last week lifted a ban on slaughtering and exports from the Netherlands under certain conditions.
The Netherlands is the hardest-hit of 11 EU countries where livestock were given feed laced with medroxyprogesterone-acetate (MPA), which is forbidden in the EU and other countries as a growth hormone in livestock feed. MPA is a component in some pharmaceuticals, such as hormone replacement therapies for women in menopause.
Around 7,000 Dutch farms - half of all pig farmers in the Netherlands - received feed that is suspected to have been contaminated.:
