Exporting meat to Europe/Switzerland

[alspal]

Hello,

has anyone recently/ever exported any game meat which they hunted in Namibia or South Africa into the EU or Switzerland? Any information (company they worked with, costs involved, time, paperwork required) would be greatly appreciated. I could not find any information on this site or on the web. Thanks you!

cheers
alberto

 

[Zambezi]

Not sure so I googled...

Duty-free allowances: foodstuffs, alcohol and tobacco

www.ezv.admin.ch

See note 1 under the table. It looks like meat from outside EU is prohibited.

 

[alspal]

Hi Zambezi,
those rules applies to goods brought in with you/private person over the border.

The importation of game meat from SACU member states into Switzerland are allowed since 2008.

 

[Zambezi]

Ah ok... Hope you can get it right!

 

[alspal]

For those interested; I was able to find out the following:

• Currently there is an export ban on game meat exports from South Africa to the EU/Switzerland due to the FMD status of South Africa. The ban has been in place since 2011 and there is at this stage no indication as to when it will be lifted.
• From the SACU countries only Botswana and Namibia are FMD free/not on the list.
• The EU/Swiss requirement for exporting game meat from SA or Namibia is that game must be harvested by export registered game harvesting teams with field meat inspection carried out by an independent registered meat inspector, the carcasses have to be transported to an EU export approved game meat abattoir where the carcasses and meat need to be processed and packed under veterinary supervision and are then exported with a veterinary health certificate.
• EU/Switzerland do not accept bone in meat, it therefore will not be possible to export whole carcasses.

 

[VertigoBE]

Hi @alspal,

Thanks for starting this thread, as I am also trying to find out how to get some meat back home to Europe.

To sum up what you wrote above, is this correct?

1. Taking meat in personal luggage from outside EU into the EU, is not allowed

2. Exporting meat from SA to EU is not allowed because a. Needs to be certified in SA by EU approved inspector b. Whole carcasses/meat in bone is not accepted either

But Botswana and Namibia can export meat to EU?

If that last one is correct, how would one go about this?

Thanks,

V.

 

[alspal]

Hi VertigoBE,

I also do not know how and if it is possible to import hunted meat into Europe...hench why i started the thread. At the moment it looks like it is possible to import game meat from a registered abatoir (atleast from Namibia) into the EU but not meat which one hunted oneself...unfortunately.

Please let me know if you find out anything else.