USMEF Opposes Applying EU Health and Environmental Standards to Imports

The European Commission has issued a Call for Evidence to assess the rationale and legal feasibility of applying EU health and environmental standards to imported agricultural and agri-food products. USMEF filed comments in response, and those comments are available online.

While supportive of the overall goal of working toward a global sustainable food system, USMEF strongly disagrees that applying EU health and environmental standards to imported products will contribute to that goal. USMEF also questions whether such an approach would be compliant with World Trade Organization rules and cautions that it is likely to lead to supply limitations and higher costs for European producers and consumers.

In this audio report, USMEF Senior Director for Export Services Cheyenne McEndaffer notes that the U.S. has some of the world’s most robust animal welfare programs and outcomes, accomplished through voluntary on-farm certifications and stringent animal welfare regulations at USDA-inspected slaughter plants.

TRANSCRIPT

# # #

The U.S. Meat Export Federation (www.USMEF.org) is the trade association responsible for developing international markets for the U.S. red meat industry. It is funded by USDA; the beef, pork, lamb, corn and soybean checkoff programs, as well as its members representing nine industry sectors: beef/veal producing & feeding, pork producing & feeding, lamb producing & feeding, packing & processing, purveying & trading, oilseeds producing, feedgrains producing, farm organizations and supply & service organizations. USMEF complies with all equal opportunity, non-discrimination and affirmative action measures applicable to it by contract, government rule or regulation or as otherwise provided by law. USMEF is an equal opportunity employer and provider.