WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Agriculture Department proposed on Wednesday to allow imports of Canadian poultry and pork processed at plants that also handle cattle, in a sign of declining fears of mad cow disease.
USDA now requires that Canadian meat products derived from nonruminant poultry and pigs come from facilities separate from those processing ruminant animals such as cattle, which are susceptible to mad cow disease.
Ruminant animals collect swallowed food in a part of their stomachs for further chewing.
The department said because products derived from nonruminant animals pose a small risk of getting mad cow disease from contaminated products, it was "inconsistent" to have them processed in a separate facility.
Canada was the only country categorized as a bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) "minimal-risk" region in USDA's final rule published in January 2005. The proposed changes to this rule issued on Wednesday were published in the U.S. government's Federal Register.
The changes also would allow bovines, sheep and goats imported from Canada to be identified by other ways such as tattoos in addition to an ear tag. The earlier rule specified an ear tag because that is the required means of identification under Canada's national livestock identification program.
Lastly, the new measure would expand imports to include gelatin derived from bovine hides in addition to bones, which was currently allowed.
"We do not believe these restrictions are necessary to prevent the introduction of BSE into the United States," USDA said in its report.
The public has until October 10 to comment on the new rule.
The changes come two weeks after USDA halted a proposal to allow imports of older Canadian cattle after a dairy cow contracted mad cow disease years after Canada implemented safeguards.
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
USDA now requires that Canadian meat products derived from nonruminant poultry and pigs come from facilities separate from those processing ruminant animals such as cattle, which are susceptible to mad cow disease.
Ruminant animals collect swallowed food in a part of their stomachs for further chewing.
The department said because products derived from nonruminant animals pose a small risk of getting mad cow disease from contaminated products, it was "inconsistent" to have them processed in a separate facility.
Canada was the only country categorized as a bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) "minimal-risk" region in USDA's final rule published in January 2005. The proposed changes to this rule issued on Wednesday were published in the U.S. government's Federal Register.
The changes also would allow bovines, sheep and goats imported from Canada to be identified by other ways such as tattoos in addition to an ear tag. The earlier rule specified an ear tag because that is the required means of identification under Canada's national livestock identification program.
Lastly, the new measure would expand imports to include gelatin derived from bovine hides in addition to bones, which was currently allowed.
"We do not believe these restrictions are necessary to prevent the introduction of BSE into the United States," USDA said in its report.
The public has until October 10 to comment on the new rule.
The changes come two weeks after USDA halted a proposal to allow imports of older Canadian cattle after a dairy cow contracted mad cow disease years after Canada implemented safeguards.
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.