05 November 2006
U.S. Welcomes Decisions by Colombia, Peru To End Ban on U.S. Beef
Officials hope other markets will reopen, stress thoroughness of U.S. food-safety system
Washington -- In a joint statement issued November 3, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns and U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab welcomed recent decisions by Colombia and Peru to lift bans on imports of U.S. beef and beef products.
"These openings represent progress in our efforts to reopen global markets for U.S. beef," said Johanns. "American producers are proud of our safe, high-quality beef products, and we value the opportunity to deliver our products to consumers in South America and around the world."
Many countries cut off imports of U.S. beef products in December 2003, soon after a sole case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) -- or mad cow disease -- was found in a cow in the United States. The infected cow was later found to have been imported from Canada before that country adopted cattlefeed-composition restrictions similar to those already in place in the United States.
Schwab said that the United States looks forward to market openings for U.S. beef by other trading partners "in accordance with science-based international standards."
U.S. Department of Agriculture officials continue to emphasize that the United States has a strong, science-based food-safety system that is designed to provide maximum protection for the health and safety of consumers.
In an interview with the Washington File, Lester Crawford, a leading U.S. food expert and former head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said that the United States spends approximately $2 billion annually at the federal level for food safety, and more by state and local authorities. (See related article.)
“U.S. law requires continuous inspection of every chicken and head of livestock when it is processed,” Crawford said. “If a USDA inspector isn’t present at the processing plant, the plant is not allowed to operate.”
In 2003, according to the Agriculture Department, the United States exported a combined total of more than $4 million worth of beef and beef products to Colombia and Peru. The reopening of these two markets restores two-thirds of the market access for U.S. beef and beef products in South America, officials said.
The full text of the statement by Johanns and Schwab can be found on the Department of Agriculture Web site. More information on bovine spongiform encephalopathy is available on the Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Web site.
More information on U.S. food safety programs is available on the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition Web site.
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
