June 27, 2013

Jamaica's ban on beef import from Canada continues

As the Jamaican Government disclosed that the risk assessment process is yet to be completed, there appears to be no resolution on the 10-year-old ban on the importation of beef and beef products from Canada.

Jamaica imposed the ban in May 2003 in the immediate aftermath of news of the presence of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) - the medical name for mad cow disease - in a single cow on a Canadian farm. At the time, Jamaica was only importing a small amount of beef from the North American country.

"The importation of animal products into Jamaica is subject to risk assessment. Jamaica's attempts to complete the risk assessment process relating to Canadian beef - by way of visiting and reviewing the disease surveillance procedure, which is conducted in Canada to safeguard humans against the variant of mad cow disease, known as the Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease - have not yet been satisfied," an official at Jamaica's Ministry of Agriculture told the Jamaica Observer.

Variant Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease, according to the World Health Organisation, is a rare and fatal human neurodegenerative condition. It causes dementia and eventual death. But Canada is declaring that Jamaica stands alone in maintaining the ban, and not recognising the technologies developed to fight BSE, as Canada finds ready markets for its beef in nearly 60 other countries annually.

At a breakfast meeting, Canadian High Commissioner Robert Ready told senior journalists that the restriction continues to be an "issue" for Canada. "Frankly, from our perspective, the restriction on importation from the Jamaican side should have probably been lifted some time ago, but we continue to work on that," he said, referring to the on-going dialogue between the two countries.

He, however, said the hiccup will not affect Jamaica-Canada relations, brushing it off as merely an irritant in the "very diverse, deep and long" relationship the two country share.

At the end of 2012, bilateral trade between the two countries stood at CAD589.6 million (US$565 million) - CAD237.6 million (US$228 million) for merchandise trade and CAD352 million (US$337 million) for services.

Of the merchandise figure, Jamaica paid CA135.8 million (US$130 million) for Canadian cereals, pharmaceutical products, fish, paper, board, plastics, and other merchandise. Canada paid the remaining CAD101.8 million (US$98 million) in chemical, rum and food products from Jamaica.

In terms of the services trade, exports from Jamaica accounted for just over 64%, or CAD226 million (US$217 million), of the overall figure.

Meanwhile, Ready praised Jamaica for its move towards self-sufficiency with the 'eat what you grow campaign' - which encourages citizens to eat locally grown foods - but cautioned against such a campaign leading to protectionism.