April 18, 2006

 

Bone fragments an issue of concern in US beef trade

 

 

Foreign concerns over bone fragments in "boneless" beef shipments has US government officials working to prevent potential trade disruptions as the US regains trading partners.

 

Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore and South Korea are new to the concept of buying only boneless beef from the US, but that is a condition all of them have either placed or are in the process of placing on US beef as trade bans are gradually being eased.

 

Most major foreign markets banned US beef in Dec 2003 after the first case of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) was discovered here. Many of them have begun importing again, but with restrictions such as a "boneless" provision.

Just last month Hong Kong surprised US government and industry officials by suspending beef imports from Swift and Company's Greeley, Colorado, facility because of a shipment containing bone fragments.

 

Swift and Company at first called Hong Kong's concern "a minor quality issue" that should not have disrupted trade and the company dismissed it as something USDA would deal with.

 

But since then, Swift and Company spokesman Sean McHugh said the company has made changes in its production procedures at the Greeley plant.  

 

McHugh said the company has prepared special labels for beef it would ship to Hong Kong and added "supplemental quality assurance personnel" to increase inspections and make sure product will comply with Hong Kong's expectations.

 

USDA spokesman Ed Loyd confirmed that the US-Hong Kong deal contains "no accepted tolerances" for bone fragments. "The only nations with which we have established tolerances are Canada and Mexico."

 

Lynn Heinze, a spokesman for the US Meat Export Federation, said the bone fragment issue could be "huge" because a "zero tolerance" is not possible now for US processors.

 

"That is essentially the issue we are dealing with in Singapore and Hong Kong," Heinze said. "We're seeing it a little bit in Thailand. Clearly the (South) Koreans have indicated to us that a zero tolerance is what they are going to be looking for once that agreement goes into place."

 

South Korea, one of the largest US beef buyers before Dec 2003, is now in protracted negotiations with USDA over resuming trade, but only to buy boneless cuts.

 

Mexico, despite having signed on to a deal with the US and Canada to allow for some bone fragments in boneless meat trade, raised some alarm this year when it considered a zero tolerance proposal. The proposal has been rejected twice by Cofemer, Mexico's equivalent of the US Office of Management and Budget.

 

Mexico and Canada are the only two US beef importers that have agreed to a tolerance level that allows for some bone fragments in beef shipments.

 

Mexico partially lifted its ban on US beef in Mar 2004 to allow in boneless product and it agreed in Feb 2006 to allow in bone-in cuts.

 

Mexico, now the largest foreign buyer of US beef, has demanded that the US maintain different regulations for the two categories--boneless and bone-in.