MEDIA RELEASE
Wellard has concluded its Eid Al Adha program in Oman, adding to its successful record of ESCAS compliance during Eid.
Wellard has been informed by the Department of Agriculture and Water (DoAW) and Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) that Australian sheep have been detected outside of the Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System (ESCAS) supply chain in Oman. A list of ear tag details were supplied by DoAW and MLA, and Wellard can confirm that all animals found outside the supply chain originated from properties that were different to the properties Wellard sourced sheep for its consignment to Oman.
Wellard is co-operating with the DoAW to confirm that none of its sheep have been processed outside the approved supply chain and has extra workforce in Oman to assist the importer of Wellard sheep to properly deal with the welfare of the animals.
“Assuming no evidence of non-compliance emerges, and we have every expectation that will be the case given the systems we have in place and the commitment of our importer to ESCAS, then it will be three years out of the last four that Wellard has been ESCAS compliant during Eid. That is a great track record given Eid Al Adha is a period of such great intensity, and I would expect that it is an industry-leading record,” said Wellard CEO Mauro Balzarini.
“Wellard invests heavily financially and in human resources in working with our importers to ensure the integrity of the supply chain while meeting the demands of our customers.
“We also commend our Omani livestock importer, Al Batina, for its commitment to the program. It is frustrating for them to be confined to the central abattoir in Muscat, as it is the only facility to adopt a carcase-only program to avoid risk of leakage at other markets in Oman, while seeing competitors taking unfair advantage and making big profits, because this is the heart of the problem.
“It is now crucial that importers who remain ESCAS compliant in any markets are rewarded and those that choose to systemically rort the system are excluded from buying Australian sheep, because that is how we can make sure the animal welfare outcome is always optimum.
“ESCAS compliance costs importers hundreds of thousands of dollars of lost sales and their exporters similar amounts in extra staff and costs. If their competitors pocket the extra money and can continue to do that with little penalty, then compliance becomes a disincentive and the system becomes a farce .This industry is too important to let it be jeopardized by the behaviour of a few.
“This is exactly what happened in Jordan in recent years and I don’t want to see it repeated in Oman.”
For further information please contact:
Cameron Morse
Phone: + 61 8 9485 8888
Mobile: +61 (0) 433 886 871