May 8, 2009
Israel farm ministry favours rural income over food safety
The Agriculture Ministry has been acting to ensure the income and profits of farmers, not consumer health, according to Israeli State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss, in a report released this week.
The State Comptroller examined the government supervision of the feed market for animals and had reached this serious conclusion.
Lindenstrauss said existing legislation in Israel dealing with supervision in animal feed is outdated and aims at increasing production and profit instead of protecting public health.
He called to speed up the introduction of new laws so that standards would reach those of other developed countries.
Supervision over feed producers is insufficient and the ministries of agriculture and health have placed the responsibility onto each other, he said.
The use of antibiotic growth promoters continues in Israel without the necessary controls even though the Health Ministry has demanded that use of such materials cease.
But the Agriculture Ministry still allows chicken farmers to use carcinogenic arsenic-based compounds as growth promoters. The use of these compounds is banned in Israel but the Agriculture Ministry ignores the law by saying responsible officials ''''were unaware of the instructions of the law''''.
Feed containing arsenic compounds continue for four years and was stopped only because of opposition voiced by the ministries of health and the environment. But the Agriculture Ministry continued to seek legal ways to resume the use of the dangerous substance.
According to ministry data, chicken farmers could lose ILS25-50 million (US$6.1-12.2 million) if the use of arsenic compounds is stopped.
Consumer representatives were never included in discussions on whether to continue using the carcinogenic additives, according to the report.