Fears of tainted meat cloud Muslim feast in Egypt

Fears of tainted meat cloud Muslim feast in Egypt
REUTERS

MAR 4: Millions of Muslim Egyptians approach this year's Eid al-Adha holiday with a mixture of joy and fear, as the latest animal health scares spread from Europe to the rest of the meat-eating world.

During Eid al-Adha, Islam's feast of sacrifice, Muslim families traditionally slaughter a head of livestock and donate a third of the meat to the needy. The three-day Eid, which involves vast banquets of food, begins on Monday.

Huge amounts of red meat are consumed every Eid, but fears of disease loom over demand during this year's holiday.

"My grandfather is really scared of red meat this year because of the news of mad cow disease. So he says this year, he'll be eating chicken," said Walaa, a 20-year-old saleswoman at the annual Cairo Eid trade fair.

Over the last few months, local media reports of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE or mad cow disease) and the highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease in Europe have alarmed many in Egypt -- the Arab world's most populous nation.

News of the animal diseases has driven many consumers to domestic meat -- which local authorities say is disease-free -- while others have given up meat and dairy products altogether.

Officials have launched a sweeping media campaign to inform people of measures taken to ensure their meat is safe.

In early February, Egypt imposed a four-month ban on beef, live cattle and animal-based fodder from Europe because of concerns about mad cow disease.

The brain-wasting disease has been linked to its human equivalent new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, which has killed more than 80 people, mostly in Britain.

Conscious of the usually buoyant Eid demand, authorities have stepped up security measures to guarantee that the 36 million Egyptian pounds ($9.3 million) worth of imported meats for this year's Eid are safe for human consumption.

Farouk Abdel Aziz, the general supervisor for food stuffs in Alexandria, said on Thursday that the government had introduced a state of emergency at sea and airports to ensure the imported meat is safe and does not contravene the ban.

He said the only meat currently imported comes from the United States, Australia, New Zealand, India and China.

For the Eid, Egypt imported some 40,000 sheep from Australia and 120 tonnes of frozen mutton from New Zealand alone.

PEOPLE STILL SCARED

Despite government efforts, Egyptian consumer confidenceremains shaken.

"We've listened to doctors on television who told us thatthe imported beef in Egypt is safe, that it is imported from reliable, disease-free sources. But common folk do not believe this," one man said.

Imported meats are usually cheaper than domestic productsbecause the government subsidises the foreign goods and sells them at state-run stores designed for low-income households.

For example, government imports of fresh beef from Australiaand New Zealand are sold at 15 Egyptian pounds ($3.9) per kg (2.2 lb), five pounds less than local beef.

"Even if they (authorities) decreased imported beef pricesfurther, no one would buy it," said grocer Mustafa Kamal, adding that only poor people would resort to buying the imported meats.

Fears of disease have also taken their toll on local vendorsof dairy products. Kamal said the demand for cheese had dropped radically as concerns rose that milk products could be contaminated too.

"Even if I tell buyers that this cheese is made from localmilk, few people will buy it," he said, adding he was selling only about a quarter as much of the popular "Rumi" cheese as he sold five months ago.

Amid the growing demand for local meat and hefty exports forEid festivities abroad, die-hard carnivores face a rise in the price of local products. For example, the price of live sheep -- Egypt's Eid staple -- has risen by half a pound to between 11.5 and 12 pounds per kg.

Livestock traders estimated that Egypt exported 2.5 millinhead of sheep to Saudi Arabia and 1.5 million to Syria for the Eid sacrifices.

At the Cairo Eid fair, buyers are few and far between. Butthose who come head straight for the pens of local sheep.

"When meat buyers find an imported product they're scared ofit. But when they find a local product they buy it blindly," Kamal said.