His Excellency Sultan Alwan, Assistant Undersecretary of the Regions Sector at the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE), accompanied His Excellency Dr Al Zeyoudi on the inspections.

In order to ensure that all sources of animal food are free from contamination during the busy festival season, and to prevent the spread of contagious diseases that can affect human beings, the Ministry ensures the deployment of higher numbers of veterinary quarantine doctors and veterinary laboratory technicians, in addition to extending working hours at border crossing laboratories during such periods. In addition, MOCCAE verifies that laboratories are well equipped to deal with contingencies, and also oversees the set-up of temporary satellite labs where needed.

These measures have helped MOCCAE to almost halve the time spent in livestock testing and issuing release permits.

His Excellency Dr Al Zeyoudi said: “Food safety is a top priority for the UAE. The Ministry remains committed to ongoing monitoring and upgrades of all veterinary quarantines at the country’s ports to ensure the highest compliance with global standards across all operations.”

He added: “We have also endeavored to expand the country’s livestock export base. In the past three years, the number of countries exporting livestock to the UAE has increased from 17 to 24. Armenia is the latest addition to our list of livestock exporters, and we have received the first consignment from that country just ahead of Eid Al Adha - comprising 10,000 head of cattle.”

During the review visit to Sharjah Airport, His Excellency Sheikh Faisal bin Saoud Al Qassimi, Director of Sharjah Airport Authority, joined His Excellency Dr Al Zeyoudi in meeting consignment owners and listening to their feedback on the consignment-handling processes at the airport.

Veterinary medical teams at ports place inbound livestock in quarantine once consignments arrive in the country, while validating the shipping documents and running clinical and lab tests to ensure they are disease free. Consignments that fail the tests remain in quarantine for treatment or are returned to the country of origin.

Based on the number of livestock import permits released by border authorities, the local livestock market received 83,000 inbound head of cattle between June 10 and August 4, 2019.