Agricultural News
R-CALF CEO Says USDA's New BSE Rule Eliminates Important Protections
Thu, 24 May 2012 10:07:56 CDT
Contrary to meatpacking industry claims, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) proposed rule regarding bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE or mad cow disease) eliminates key protections contained in current regulations that are designed to prevent the introduction and spread of BSE into the United States from foreign countries.
Current USDA regulations require that bone-in beef imported from BSE-affected Canada be derived only from cattle "that have been subject to a ruminant feed ban equivalent to the requirements established by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. . ."
That requirement is in addition to the requirement that the beef also be derived from cattle that have had all specified risk materials (SRMs) removed at slaughter.
"Under USDA's newly proposed BSE rule, bone-in beef from Canada will no longer be required to be derived only from cattle subject to a ruminant feed ban, meaning beef from older Canadian cattle born before the effective date of Canada's feed ban could be freely imported into the United States," said R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard.
"Not only that," he added, "USDA intends to open our borders to countries that have had over a thousand cases of BSE, such as Ireland, France, and the United Kingdom; and to countries that have had hundreds of cases of BSE, such as Portugal, Spain, and Germany, and USDA would not require the beef from any of those countries to be derived only from cattle that have been subject to a ruminant feed ban."
Bullard said many of the countries from where USDA wants to begin importing beef continue to detect new BSE cases and no one, including the USDA, can explain why those new cases persist even after those countries have purportedly adopted all recommended mitigation measures.
"USDA's proposed BSE rule is reckless. If it is adopted, the risk of introducing BSE into the United States from foreign countries will increase," Bullard concluded.
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