Manitoba_Rancher
Well-known member
BSE Merry-Go-Round Is Greased, Stoked And Whirling
Joe Roybal
OUR PERSPECTIVE
COW-CALF WEEKLY
A Prism Business Media Property
March 17, 2006
Beef Magazine
Relatively speaking, the announcement this week of a third case of BSE
in the U.S. seems to have passed with little more than a yawn, at least
where the media was concerned. On the evening of the March 13 BSE
confirmation announcement by USDA, I tried to tune into the major
networks' evening news shows. Neither ABC, NBC, CBS or Fox News led off
with the story. In fact, "NBC News with Brian Williams" finally made a
very brief -- less than 10 seconds -- mention of the story about 15-20
minutes into the broadcast.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported that, among the New York Times, Washington
Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, USA Today and Wall Street
Journal (WSJ), only WSJ gave the BSE story front-page treatment.
Even R-CALF, which not long ago was canoodling with anti-meat "consumer"
groups to alert Americans to the Biblical-style plague if Canadian beef
were allowed into the U.S., sent out a statesmen-like news release
stressing the safety of the U.S. beef supply. :roll: :roll:
Still, there were calls in Congress for action on downer animals, a
heightened feed ban and more urgency on a mandatory livestock ID system.
To be sure, the news earlier this week of a third case of BSE in the
U.S. made for some high anxiety among those hoping and working for the
reopening of important Pacific Rim markets still off-limits to U.S. beef
exports. The big one, of course, is Japan, which re-shuttered its market
to U.S. beef after just a month, following the discovery in Tokyo of
attached vertebrae in a U.S. shipment of veal.
Meanwhile, the taffy pulling continues with South Korea, which has
agreed to reopen its market to boneless U.S. beef from animals 30 months
of age or less. The final steps of that agreement are in process, with
the first shipments anticipated to arrive in April.
The question on everyone's mind is: "How will this latest BSE episode
affect all these negotiations?"
The U.S. further sneezed into the soup when Hong Kong inspectors found
bone shards last Friday in a shipment of boneless beef products from a
Swift Beef Co. plant in Colorado. Hong Kong had partially lifted its
two-year ban on imports of U.S. beef in December, with the stipulation
only boneless beef from cattle less than 30 months old is allowed for
export. Hong Kong has barred the Greeley plant from further exports.
The Hong Kong news served to stoke up concern among some Japanese
consumers because the Swift plant was among the 11 U.S. plants toured
and approved by a Japanese inspection team in mid December.
Incidentally, Japan confirmed its 23rd and 24th case of domestic BSE.
The latest case, confirmed today, was the first case in a beef animal in
Japan. All others being dairy cows.
Then to top it off came more news this week that USDA planned to
continue with its planned scaling back of its expanded surveillance
program for BSE. Though those close to the issue realize the program was
always intended to be temporary, the timing of the story -- coming on
the heels of a newly discovered case -- seemed to others as more
evidence of USDA's detachment from reality on the whole BSE issue.
Taken together, these incidents not only had a lot of folks questioning
the U.S. commitment to, and USDA's oversight of, living up to the
agreed-upon protocols, it had a lot of folks, particularly in the U.S.
beef industry, flummoxed, flabbergasted and furious. And rightly so.
Joe Roybal
OUR PERSPECTIVE
COW-CALF WEEKLY
A Prism Business Media Property
March 17, 2006
Beef Magazine
Relatively speaking, the announcement this week of a third case of BSE
in the U.S. seems to have passed with little more than a yawn, at least
where the media was concerned. On the evening of the March 13 BSE
confirmation announcement by USDA, I tried to tune into the major
networks' evening news shows. Neither ABC, NBC, CBS or Fox News led off
with the story. In fact, "NBC News with Brian Williams" finally made a
very brief -- less than 10 seconds -- mention of the story about 15-20
minutes into the broadcast.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported that, among the New York Times, Washington
Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, USA Today and Wall Street
Journal (WSJ), only WSJ gave the BSE story front-page treatment.
Even R-CALF, which not long ago was canoodling with anti-meat "consumer"
groups to alert Americans to the Biblical-style plague if Canadian beef
were allowed into the U.S., sent out a statesmen-like news release
stressing the safety of the U.S. beef supply. :roll: :roll:
Still, there were calls in Congress for action on downer animals, a
heightened feed ban and more urgency on a mandatory livestock ID system.
To be sure, the news earlier this week of a third case of BSE in the
U.S. made for some high anxiety among those hoping and working for the
reopening of important Pacific Rim markets still off-limits to U.S. beef
exports. The big one, of course, is Japan, which re-shuttered its market
to U.S. beef after just a month, following the discovery in Tokyo of
attached vertebrae in a U.S. shipment of veal.
Meanwhile, the taffy pulling continues with South Korea, which has
agreed to reopen its market to boneless U.S. beef from animals 30 months
of age or less. The final steps of that agreement are in process, with
the first shipments anticipated to arrive in April.
The question on everyone's mind is: "How will this latest BSE episode
affect all these negotiations?"
The U.S. further sneezed into the soup when Hong Kong inspectors found
bone shards last Friday in a shipment of boneless beef products from a
Swift Beef Co. plant in Colorado. Hong Kong had partially lifted its
two-year ban on imports of U.S. beef in December, with the stipulation
only boneless beef from cattle less than 30 months old is allowed for
export. Hong Kong has barred the Greeley plant from further exports.
The Hong Kong news served to stoke up concern among some Japanese
consumers because the Swift plant was among the 11 U.S. plants toured
and approved by a Japanese inspection team in mid December.
Incidentally, Japan confirmed its 23rd and 24th case of domestic BSE.
The latest case, confirmed today, was the first case in a beef animal in
Japan. All others being dairy cows.
Then to top it off came more news this week that USDA planned to
continue with its planned scaling back of its expanded surveillance
program for BSE. Though those close to the issue realize the program was
always intended to be temporary, the timing of the story -- coming on
the heels of a newly discovered case -- seemed to others as more
evidence of USDA's detachment from reality on the whole BSE issue.
Taken together, these incidents not only had a lot of folks questioning
the U.S. commitment to, and USDA's oversight of, living up to the
agreed-upon protocols, it had a lot of folks, particularly in the U.S.
beef industry, flummoxed, flabbergasted and furious. And rightly so.
