January 9, 2007

 

USDA proposes more meat imports from low mad-cow risk countries

 

 

The USDA last week proposed to expand its list of allowable imports of meat and meat products from countries considered to be at a low risk of introducing mad cow disease.

 

The proposal expands upon a rule from USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) that allowed for the import of certain live animals and animal products, including cattle under 30 months of age, from countries recognized as minimal-risk.

 

APHIS is proposing to allow the importation of live cattle and other bovines born after March 1 1999 for any use.

 

This would continue to protect against mad cow disease from entering the US while allowing it to implement science-based trade relations with countries that have appropriate safeguards, said Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns.

 

Currently, only Canada is considered a minimal-risk country by the US.

 

The USDA acknowledges Canada's safeguards and have completed a risk assessment confirming that animals and products can be safely traded, said Johanns.

 

However, Canada's meat industry was hit in recent years by disease scares and the previous bans from the US have weakened production.

 

Even as live imports of Canadian cattle was resumed in 2005, they are still 20 percent below levels before the 2003-ban, according to a USDA report released last year.

 

The APHIS proposal would be based on risk assessment following guidelines from the World Organization for Animal Health, or OIE.

 

Mad cow disease transmission is prevented in bovines by safeguards such as slaughter controls, dead animal disposal, rendering inactivation, feed controls and biologic limitations to susceptibility, the USDA said.

 

These layers of protection work together to prevent spread of the disease, the department added.

 

The proposed rule by APHIS is currently open to comments, which must be received by March 12 2007.