Mexico | Mexican Ban On U.S. Beef | Mexico expects to soon lift its ban on U....
Mexico
Mexican Ban On U.S. Beef
Mexico expects to soon lift its ban on U.S. beef as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) fears subside, a senior farm ministry official told Reuters (March 2).
Animal health chief Javier Trujillo said Mexico would send a team of government inspectors to 10 U.S. processing plants in the coming days to check the safety of a new method proposed by U.S. officials for separating beef from the bone.
The USDA’s chief economist Keith Collins said in Washington on Tuesday that it could be just a few days before Mexico and Canada take steps to lift their respective bans on U.S. beef and cattle.
“I can say that he is correct. We are no longer talking about weeks,” Trujillo told Reuters.
Mexico closed its borders to U.S. beef, along with most other importers, following the Dec. 23 discovery of the first BSE case in the United States.
Since BSE surfaced in the United States, Canada has continued to buy some beef, but it banned live cattle and cuts of meat considered to be of higher risk.
Mexico, the No. 2 importer of U.S. beef, had opposed lifting its ban until the United States switched to manual deboning — one of six measures it pledged to implement to contain the spread of BSE.
But Trujillo said last week the United States had proposed an advanced method, albeit still mechanical, for deboning cow carcasses that does not damage the bone — believed to be a possible source of contamination.
Trujillo said health ministry inspectors would inspect the 10 U.S. meat plants next week. “Providing the health ministry has no objections (to the deboning method), then neither will the agriculture ministry.”
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said on Tuesday she was becoming frustrated with Mexico’s reluctance to lift its ban on beef, and noted Mexico still buys Canadian beef despite that country’s discovery of a mad cow disease case last year.
Mexico
Mexican Ban On U.S. Beef
Mexico expects to soon lift its ban on U.S. beef as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) fears subside, a senior farm ministry official told Reuters (March 2).
Animal health chief Javier Trujillo said Mexico would send a team of government inspectors to 10 U.S. processing plants in the coming days to check the safety of a new method proposed by U.S. officials for separating beef from the bone.
The USDA’s chief economist Keith Collins said in Washington on Tuesday that it could be just a few days before Mexico and Canada take steps to lift their respective bans on U.S. beef and cattle.
“I can say that he is correct. We are no longer talking about weeks,” Trujillo told Reuters.
Mexico closed its borders to U.S. beef, along with most other importers, following the Dec. 23 discovery of the first BSE case in the United States.
Since BSE surfaced in the United States, Canada has continued to buy some beef, but it banned live cattle and cuts of meat considered to be of higher risk.
Mexico, the No. 2 importer of U.S. beef, had opposed lifting its ban until the United States switched to manual deboning — one of six measures it pledged to implement to contain the spread of BSE.
But Trujillo said last week the United States had proposed an advanced method, albeit still mechanical, for deboning cow carcasses that does not damage the bone — believed to be a possible source of contamination.
Trujillo said health ministry inspectors would inspect the 10 U.S. meat plants next week. “Providing the health ministry has no objections (to the deboning method), then neither will the agriculture ministry.”
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said on Tuesday she was becoming frustrated with Mexico’s reluctance to lift its ban on beef, and noted Mexico still buys Canadian beef despite that country’s discovery of a mad cow disease case last year.