Cattle Farmers Picket Customers

Some 1,200 cattle farmers have been notified by major dairy companies that their milk production was no longer acceptable and would be replaced by imported milk. Caras Costel, President of the Romanian Cattle Farmers Federation, told a press conference yesterday that the milk imported by the dairy companies was not of the best quality because its area of origin was unknown and it had not been tested.

"Milk that is imported into Romania, especially via Hungary, is not tested for sanitary quality. It comes from farms in the EU space where various diseases transmissible to humans have been detected. The milk and the products marketed in Romania and in other EU countries by these multinationals can be infested at any time," he said.

According to Agerpres, Romanian farmers are concerned that they will go bankrupt if they can no longer sell milk to the major dairy companies on the count that imported milk is much cheaper. Cattle farmers are asking the State to impose sanitary - veterinary tests on imported milk. For the time being, such tests are performed directly at dairy factory. They argue that, unless such measures are taken, over 1,200,000 farms will go bankrupt and some 3 million people will suffer.

A first protest will take place on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, when cattle farmers are planning to picket the customs check points in Nadlac, Varsant, Pesca and Bors. If the Romanian authorities do not grant their demands, farmers are determined to notify the European Commissioner for Agriculture.