June 30, 2004

Australian Beef Industry Awaits US Mad Cow Test Results

Australian beef industry interests are waiting for the latest test results in the U.S. for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, they said Wednesday.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Tuesday its second finding of an "inconclusive" test result for BSE since it began a new surveillance program for the disease in the U.S. The USDA announced its first "inconclusive" finding on June 25.

Keith Adams, president of national producer lobby Cattle Council of Australia, and Damon Whittock, a spokesman for marketer Meat & Livestock Australia Ltd., said they know of the recent developments in the U.S.

"It's too early to speculate on what might or mightn't happen," Adams said. Whittock concurred.

USDA spokeswoman Andrea McNally said the second inconclusive test sample is being sent to USDA's National Veterinary Services Laboratory for a confirmatory test. The laboratory has not completed a confirmatory test for the first "inconclusive" finding, she said.

Whittock said she believes the result of this test is imminent.

John Clifford, USDA's chief veterinarian, warned recently that initial screening tests "are highly sensitive" and it is likely they will produce false- positives.

Australia is a major global supplier of beef. It has helped fill a supply gap in key markets such as Japan and South Korea after these nations effectively banned imports of U.S. beef after a single case of BSE was confirmed in the U.S. late in 2003.

Australian beef exports to the lucrative Japanese market rose 31% in the first five months of this year to 147,344 metric tons from 112,525 tons in the year-earlier period.