estonian agriculture, rural economy and food industry

9.
According to the plan for
the reorganisation of the
supervisory agencies that
was prepared by the committee
set up at the Ministry
of Agriculture, the Veterinary
and Food Board supervises
1,340 food handling
enterprises, including
826 enterprises handling
non-food products, which
have been transferred from
the area of supervision of
the Health Protection
Inspectorate.
Control samples taken in the course of supervision
are analysed in laboratories authorised for
that purpose.
Seventeen laboratories hold the rights of authorised
laboratories, which perform all the necessary
control analyses of foodstuffs: from determining
food ingredients and nutritional value to testing for
the presence of pathogenic micro-organisms.
The authorising of laboratories ensures the
objectivity of supervision and that analysis results
can be compared with the respective indicators of
other countries.
The Estonian phytosanitary supervisory organisation
was restructured in 1998 and two independent
institutions were established: the Plant
Protection Inspectorate (PPI) and the Control
Centre of Plant Production (CCPP).
The laboratories of the CCPP are supplied with
modern equipment and testing methods conforming
to the European Union requirements. Training of
the personnel continues.
The CCPP is comprised of the following units:
Seed control laboratory, accredited by the Seed
Testing Association at the end of 2000 and
conforming to the EU requirements;
Cereals and plant production laboratory,
analysing the quality of concentrated fodder, raw
material of feedstuffs, cereals, cereal products, oil
crops, vegetables, and potatoes;
Contaminants and residues laboratory, analysing
pesticide agents, pesticide residues, mycotoxins,
trace elements and toxic elements in plant products;
the laboratory participates in pesticide residues and
mycotoxins monitoring programmes;
Agrochemistry laboratory, performing chemical
and technical analyses of mineral and organic
fertilisers, growth substrates and field soils;
Plant health control laboratory, performing
analyses for identifying plant diseases and pests
subject to quarantine;
Viljandi Variety Protection Centre with experimental
stations in Saku, Võru, and Tori. The
Variety Protection Centre acts in compliance with
OECD and UPOV requirements.
Estonia was free from dangerous animal diseases
in 2000.
Estonia was free from infectious animal diseases
designated as especially dangerous – the A-list
diseases.
Bovine herds were free from foot and mouth
disease, BSE, tuberculosis and brucellosis. There
were single cases of enzootic bovine leucosis, which
did not affect the general leucosis-free status of
herds. The national disease prevention programme
for ensuring the disease-free status of bovines in
artificial insemination continued.
Pig herds were free from foot and mouth
disease, classical swine fever, brucellosis and other
dangerous diseases.
Sheep and goat herds were free from brucellosis
and other dangerous diseases. Maedi-Visna antibodies
were detected in 277 sheep (of the 1,288 sheep
studied). The disease was not clinically diagnosed.
Poultry flocks were free from fowl plague and
Newcastle disease.
Rabies was detected in 130 animals, chiefly wild
animals (the number of domestic and farm animals
was 36).
Due to the disease-free status, no damages
occurred and no restrictions were imposed on trade
in animals due to diseases.
A framework of disease prevention measures
was established by the Infectious Animal Disease
Control Act and the necessary infectious animal
disease legislation was entered into force in 2000.
In 2000, the Border Service of the Veterinary
and Food Service detained 744 shipments of goods
at border inspection posts in the course of supervision.
The main reason for detention was the noncompliance
of the accompanying documents of the
goods to the applicable requirements. Meat and
meat products and fish and fish products were the
main products being detained; 4,077 tonnes of
goods were returned to the country of origin due to
non-compliance of the goods or the accompanying
documents to requirements, as well as non-compliance
with transportation requirements. In terms of
volume, more than a half of the returned goods
originated in Russia.
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