(24 November 2015)

ANSA recently published a news item which went viral on social networks.

On 10 November the news agency wrote: "Zimbabwe to export zebra and crocodile meat to Italy. The Bloomberg international news agency reports that Mike Bimha of the Zimbabwean Ministry of Commerce and Industry announced the plan at a press conference held in the capital, Harare".

We wrote to the Minister for Economic Development, Dr Federica Guidi, and the Head of the International Trade Policy Department, Amedeo Teti, asking for their confirmation of this news, and at the same time expressing our grave concerns regarding both the ethical and the hygiene aspects of such a proposal.

We received an official reply to our letter yesterday. Mr Teti made enquiries at the Ministry of Health and informed us that the import of zebra meat is controlled at the EU level and is therefore governed by specific regulations set by the European Commission, and in particular by Regulation (CE) number 206/2010.
The Ministry of Health also specified that many other conditions apply to the import of such products (for example the third country of origin must produce an EC approved facilities for the disposal of organic waste, plus abattoirs which meet EU standards). On the basis of existing health legislation, Zimbabwe is not authorised to export zebra meat to the EU at the present time. Moreover, bilateral agreements between EU Member States and third countries are not permitted by EU harmonised standardisation regulations.