July 11, 2006

Canadian beef industry concerned about beef segregation in the US

South Korea's refusal to resume beef trade with the US unless Canadian beef products are segregated in US beef processing plants has raised concerns in the Canadian cattle industry.

Canadian producers know that the US beef-processors were opposed to this restriction and had hoped to avoid it, said Ted Haney, president of Canadian Beef Export Federation, adding that segregating beef would be costly and disruptive to the US beef processing industry.

Haney said that Canadian products are safe and from a risk-assessment perspective has been demonstrated to be so.

The US processing industry itself has urged its government not to accept requests for unnecessary restrictions because of the increased costs involved, Haney stated.

Canada has been working to reestablish direct beef trade with South Korea. The country hopes its recent ban on specified risk materials from all animal feed would help it regain access to the South Korean beef market.

South Korea had cited this as a prerequisite before resuming negotiations.

Haney said South Korea is a significant market for Canadian beef. Canada exported over 20,000 tonnes of beef a year to South Korea before the discovery of mad cow disease in 2003 halted exports.

Haney also noted that Canada has already reestablished beef trade with Japan, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines.