BSE ...
BSE
Technical Team Will Certify No SRMs In U.S. Beef Shipments
In efforts to solve the problem of U.S. beef shipped to Japan prior to the December 23 BSE case announcement but arriving later, USMEF sent a technical team to Japan this week to explain to the Japanese authorities how they can be sure none of the product in question contains any specific risk materials. The USMEF Exporter Committee BSE Taskforce hopes that this will convince Japan’s agriculture and health ministries to allow the last shipments of U.S. beef in 2003 to be sold to consumers.
A separate USDA-FDA team is also visiting South Korean and Japan this week, negotiating an end to the bans on U.S. beef.
U.S., Canada And Mexico Issue Joint Release On North American Beef
USDA Secretary Ann Veneman, Canadian Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Bob Speller and Mexican Secretary of Agriculture Javier Usabiaga held their first-ever joint meeting on January 16. The purpose of the meeting, hosted by Secretary Veneman, was to address the new challenges presented by the finding of the two BSE-infected cows in the United States and Canada, and to discuss the new measures to be implemented in order to achieve a resumption in the North American trade in beef.
The Ministers agreed to enhance ongoing efforts to increase harmonization and equivalence of BSE regulations and to address the challenges of the BSE findings in North America with the goal of ensuring the continued safety of the North American food supply.
It was agreed that maintaining consumer confidence in beef is fundamental to the management of the BSE issue and that it will remain a top priority in future discussions to improve the international approach to BSE.
The highly integrated nature of the North American beef industry was recognized, as was the need for a coordinated approach to address both the regulatory and trade aspects of the current BSE challenges.
The parties have been working together for months to expand the current dialogue on BSE. Their objective is to update OIE guidelines and encourage adherence to the science-based guidelines and applications for the international trade in safe animal and animal products in the OIE. Finally, the officials agreed to the development of appropriate global incentives to further the control and eradication of the disease and will focus on, among other things, treating countries fairly and consistently if and when BSE is discovered.
Each government agreed to designate a sub-cabinet level official to coordinate the ongoing interagency efforts toward a resumption of exports based on a harmonized framework.
The officials also noted that together, the United States, Canada and Mexico, have a unique opportunity to demonstrate international leadership aimed at North American beef and cattle exports while maintaining the highest level of food safety.
OIE Opposes Beef Bans
The Office of International Epizootics (OIE) — the world organization for animal health — issued a press release Jan. 12 emphasizing that OIE trade recommendations should not be used to justify import bans on countries that have announced their first case of BSE.
The OIE, according to the release, “has become increasingly concerned about reports of international trade disruptions involving the misinterpretation of OIE standards.”
The OIE opposes the practice of “applying trade bans when an exporting country reports the presence of BSE, without consulting the recommendations in the Code or conducting a risk analysis in accordance with its OIE and WTO obligations.”
While the Code provides increasingly restrictive recommendations which are commensurate with the level of BSE risk in each of the country status categories, it does not recommend a ban on beef products, but rather says that “fresh meat may be imported safely from a country of any BSE status but with increasing restrictions so that, for countries presenting a high BSE risk, more severe measures are applied to the cattle from which the meat was derived and to the meat itself. The experts consider that, if these measures are followed, the meat is safe.”
The OIE chapter on BSE currently describes five levels of exporting country status based on their determined risk level (free, provisionally free, minimal risk, moderate risk and high risk). It then addresses trade conditions for various commodities through an increasing degree of restrictions commensurate with the risks presented.
Banning countries with a single case of BSE, such as the United States, penalizes “countries with a good and transparent surveillance system for animal diseases and zoonoses, and which have demonstrated their ability to control the risks identified. This may result in a reluctance to report future cases and an increased likelihood of disease spread internationally.”
The release may be read in its entirety on the OIE Web site, www.oie.int.
BSE Briefing In Washington, D.C. On February 3
The American Meat Institute, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association and USMEF are holding a BSE Briefing at the Fairmont Washington, D.C. on February 3. The agenda includes a Scientific Status Report, an update on the U.S. situation by the USDA’s Ron DeHaven and assessments of consumer responses.
The agenda and registration form are available at www.meatami.com (click on AMI Meetings).
BSE
Technical Team Will Certify No SRMs In U.S. Beef Shipments
In efforts to solve the problem of U.S. beef shipped to Japan prior to the December 23 BSE case announcement but arriving later, USMEF sent a technical team to Japan this week to explain to the Japanese authorities how they can be sure none of the product in question contains any specific risk materials. The USMEF Exporter Committee BSE Taskforce hopes that this will convince Japan’s agriculture and health ministries to allow the last shipments of U.S. beef in 2003 to be sold to consumers.
A separate USDA-FDA team is also visiting South Korean and Japan this week, negotiating an end to the bans on U.S. beef.
U.S., Canada And Mexico Issue Joint Release On North American Beef
USDA Secretary Ann Veneman, Canadian Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Bob Speller and Mexican Secretary of Agriculture Javier Usabiaga held their first-ever joint meeting on January 16. The purpose of the meeting, hosted by Secretary Veneman, was to address the new challenges presented by the finding of the two BSE-infected cows in the United States and Canada, and to discuss the new measures to be implemented in order to achieve a resumption in the North American trade in beef.
The Ministers agreed to enhance ongoing efforts to increase harmonization and equivalence of BSE regulations and to address the challenges of the BSE findings in North America with the goal of ensuring the continued safety of the North American food supply.
It was agreed that maintaining consumer confidence in beef is fundamental to the management of the BSE issue and that it will remain a top priority in future discussions to improve the international approach to BSE.
The highly integrated nature of the North American beef industry was recognized, as was the need for a coordinated approach to address both the regulatory and trade aspects of the current BSE challenges.
The parties have been working together for months to expand the current dialogue on BSE. Their objective is to update OIE guidelines and encourage adherence to the science-based guidelines and applications for the international trade in safe animal and animal products in the OIE. Finally, the officials agreed to the development of appropriate global incentives to further the control and eradication of the disease and will focus on, among other things, treating countries fairly and consistently if and when BSE is discovered.
Each government agreed to designate a sub-cabinet level official to coordinate the ongoing interagency efforts toward a resumption of exports based on a harmonized framework.
The officials also noted that together, the United States, Canada and Mexico, have a unique opportunity to demonstrate international leadership aimed at North American beef and cattle exports while maintaining the highest level of food safety.
OIE Opposes Beef Bans
The Office of International Epizootics (OIE) — the world organization for animal health — issued a press release Jan. 12 emphasizing that OIE trade recommendations should not be used to justify import bans on countries that have announced their first case of BSE.
The OIE, according to the release, “has become increasingly concerned about reports of international trade disruptions involving the misinterpretation of OIE standards.”
The OIE opposes the practice of “applying trade bans when an exporting country reports the presence of BSE, without consulting the recommendations in the Code or conducting a risk analysis in accordance with its OIE and WTO obligations.”
While the Code provides increasingly restrictive recommendations which are commensurate with the level of BSE risk in each of the country status categories, it does not recommend a ban on beef products, but rather says that “fresh meat may be imported safely from a country of any BSE status but with increasing restrictions so that, for countries presenting a high BSE risk, more severe measures are applied to the cattle from which the meat was derived and to the meat itself. The experts consider that, if these measures are followed, the meat is safe.”
The OIE chapter on BSE currently describes five levels of exporting country status based on their determined risk level (free, provisionally free, minimal risk, moderate risk and high risk). It then addresses trade conditions for various commodities through an increasing degree of restrictions commensurate with the risks presented.
Banning countries with a single case of BSE, such as the United States, penalizes “countries with a good and transparent surveillance system for animal diseases and zoonoses, and which have demonstrated their ability to control the risks identified. This may result in a reluctance to report future cases and an increased likelihood of disease spread internationally.”
The release may be read in its entirety on the OIE Web site, www.oie.int.
BSE Briefing In Washington, D.C. On February 3
The American Meat Institute, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association and USMEF are holding a BSE Briefing at the Fairmont Washington, D.C. on February 3. The agenda includes a Scientific Status Report, an update on the U.S. situation by the USDA’s Ron DeHaven and assessments of consumer responses.
The agenda and registration form are available at www.meatami.com (click on AMI Meetings).