Johannesburg - South Africa is again in the running as a leading supplier of ostrich meat to the European Union, but a persisitent poultry disease coudl halt exports if it is not stamped out in the next six months.

This is the message from a meeting in Europe last week between the Standing Veterinary Committee of the European Commission and a South African delegation. It was decided to give the local ostrich industry another chance to clean up Newcastle disease and meet the new EU regulations and standards.

In July, the European Commission published a list of countries outside the EU which would be allowed to export ostrich meat to EU countries from January and left out South Africa and other countries within the Southern African Development Community region.

Gideon Brückner, director of veterinary services, said South Africa objected and said that six abattoirs had already been approved to provide exports to the EU and their names supplied to the European Commission last year.

Currently, South Africa provides more than 80% of all ostrich meat exported to the EU, according to the Department of Agriculture.

Dr Brückner said this week that the commission's latest decision was a temporary reprieve. If moves to eradicate the disease in the next six months were unsuccessful, then the 15 EU countries would stop importing ostrich meat.

"The presence of Newcastle disease in poultry and ostriches in South Africa is still a major stumbling block in convincing the European Commission that the export of poultry meat poses no risk of transmitting disease to European countries," he said.

Newcastle disease is a viral infection, affecting poultry throughout the country and has been in South Africa for many years.

"While it (Newcastle) is a controlled disease, our long-term goal is to eradicate the disease. We have to establish areas of outbreak of disease and try to give guarantees to the EU that there is no threat of disease or infection before they close imports.

"So far, exporting ostrich meat to the EU has been on a bilateral agreement.A team of experts will be inspecting ostrich farms in the middle of next yaer to check if we meet the sanitary requirements," Dr Brückner said, adding that ostrich farmers were keen to get rid of the disease.