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12/12/2005 U.S. Cattle
Producers Pleased, But Much Work Remains R-CALF United Stockgrowers of America (Billings, Mont.) – “R-CALF USA is pleased the Japanese market has been partially reopened to U.S. beef exports,” said R-CALF USA President and Co-Founder Leo McDonnell in reaction to today’s announcement by Japanese officials that importers there will be allowed to start buying U.S. beef from cattle that are 20 months of age or younger, as long as parts of the carcass known as specified risk materials (SRMs) which are at risk of carrying the infective agent for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), are removed. Recent media reports indicated U.S. beef should be available to Japanese consumers sometime around the Christmas holidays. “Japan was the largest consumer of our beef exports before it banned U.S. imports in late 2003, and the loss of this market has cost U.S. cattle producers billions of dollars,” he said. “We look forward to continued progress in rebuilding our trade relationship with the Japanese so we can eventually obtain the level of access to Japanese beef consumers the U.S. previously enjoyed. “While Japan’s announcement is an important step forward, much work lies ahead to reopen the remaining 40-plus markets around the world that still are closed to U.S. beef exports, especially with regard to the Asian market share that for the past two years has been captured by Australia,” McDonnell continued. Japan closed its border to U.S. beef on Christmas Eve 2003, following the discovery of a BSE-positive cow in Washington state that had been imported from Canada. The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) recognizes that ‘[t]he importation of animals and animal products involves a degree of disease risk to the importing country,’ and, as the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) confirmed in its Final Rule, OIE guidelines provide a scientific basis for countries to determine their own appropriate level of protection, and, therefore, establish their own import requirements. R-CALF USA has discouraged the U.S. government from relaxing its higher import standards without first obtaining an international consensus on the adequacy of lesser standards. “R-CALF believes we urgently need an aggressive, comprehensive global strategy to upwardly harmonize global import standards for beef, and these standards must be based on the latest scientific research, as well as provide the best in protection of both animal health and food safety,” McDonnell emphasized. “These improved standards should be administered in a transparent and efficient manner, and give both producers and consumers the utmost confidence in the safety of these products. Countries should not be allowed to ban U.S. cattle or beef products with arbitrary, non-transparent standards.” At the same time, McDonnell noted, the U.S. needs to address its own import standards for cattle and beef. “While we struggle to negotiate even the most minimal access for our exports to foreign markets, we are throwing open the door to a much broader range of imports from abroad,” he explained. “Today, cattle and beef imports into the U.S. face lower standards than our exports must meet overseas, giving foreign countries an excuse to keep their markets closed to our exports as long as they can point to lower standards applied to beef imports here at home. “This situation is unacceptable to U.S. cattle producers, and R-CALF USA urges Congress and the Administration to take the following steps to restore global export markets for U.S. beef:
“We welcome today’s news as an important step forward and R-CALF will continue to push for a comprehensive, global initiative to upwardly harmonize health and safety import standards for cattle and beef,” said McDonnell.
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