Source: European Parliament
Question for written answer E-001370/2025
to the Commission
Rule 144
Emma Fourreau (The Left)
In 2023, a herd of 300 dairy cows in Saint-Omer, Normandy, were slaughtered after a case of tuberculosis was detected among them. In 2024, in a municipality neighbouring Calvados, a farmer saw his 150 cows slaughtered for the same reason. Farmers in the department are against the practice of ‘blanket slaughter’, which involves systematically killing the whole herd in the event of a positive test on one animal, with serious financial and psychological consequences for farmers.
The reliability of the tests is also being questioned, with professionals calling for more precise tools, in order to avoid slaughtering by mistake or because it takes too long for results to be confirmed. When a first test on an animal is positive, breeders actually have to wait several weeks to have the positive test definitively validated. In the meantime, even if the test ultimately turns out to be negative, all production (in this case of milk) must be discarded for health reasons.
Therefore, will the Commission:
- 1.adapt the health rules to avoid blanket slaughter and preserve farmers’ economic viability?
- 2.encourage research on the subject in order to develop more reliable and more accurate health tests?
Submitted: 2.4.2025