Canada what's wrong ?

[HAY MAKER]

Itoham offers to BSE test for JPN mkt



Company offers to test all cattle coming into Japanese market

Jun 30 2005

CBC News

Canada



A Japanese company is offering to pay the cost of testing every cow
processed and shipped to Japan for mad cow disease.



Japan closed its border to Canadian beef in May 2003, when the first case of
BSE in a Canadian-born cow was confirmed. The country, which has had a
number of bovine spongiform encephalopathy cases of its own, tests all
cattle destined to be eaten by humans.



Before allowing trade with Canada to resume, Japan wanted a promise that
each animal shipped over would have been tested. Canada has refused, arguing
that that's not scientifically necessary.



The Canadian government's position is that testing should be done for
scientific reasons and not market access.



Itoham Foods, which processes and sells beef in Japan, says it will pay
those testing costs in order to get Canadian beef back into the market.



The Canada Beef Export Federation supports individual animal testing, if
that's what the specific customer wants.



"One processor in Canada has actually applied for permission to undertake
BSE testing for market access, for the purpose of selling to Japan,
including selling to Itoham," Ted Haney, the federation's president, said.



"Other processors, for concern about relative cost and the potential for
negative effect on consumer confidence in Canada, have not been receptive to
this kind of offer."



Itoham can't pay for the testing without the approval of both the Canadian
and Japanese governments.



Itoham made a similar offer to test U.S. cattle earlier this year, but were
turned down.



The U.S. confirmed its first case of BSE in a U.S.-born cow last week. The
first case of mad cow found in the United States, in Washington state in
December 2003, was traced back to Canada. That dairy cow had been born near
Leduc.



* FROM JUNE 24, 2005: U.S. confirms mad cow case



The U.S. shut its border to Canadian beef and cattle on May 20, 2003, when
the first case of the disease in a Canadian-born animal was confirmed. While
the U.S. resumed some shipments of beef that August, the border has remained
closed to live cattle.



The U.S. Department of Agriculture had planned to reopen the border to
cattle under the age of 30 months on March 7, but R-CALF, a group of
American ranchers, won an injunction against the move, arguing Canada
doesn't adequately test for BSE.



Two other animals have tested positive in Canada since May 2003.



Federal Judge Richard Cebull, who agreed to the injunction on March 2, has
set a July 27 date for trial on R-CALF's concerns with the USDA. The USDA is
appealing Cebull's injunction decision, which will be heard July 13.





calgary.cbc.ca

 

[canadian angus]

I have said all along, if need be use their inpectors in our plants also or any other country to prove our beef is safe. Afraid big business and stubburn CCA are in the way.

CA

 

[Mike]

This HAS to be a "SHAM", doesn't it Tam?
Oh, I forgot, you don't agree with giving the customer what they want!

 

[rkaiser]

One thing is wrong.

We don't have the capacity to kill.

And the Mutinational Packers in Canada are doing just fine killing all the cattle they can kill, with extreme profit, and sending it to America in a box. This part is not wrong, it's just reality.

 

[rkaiser]

And the Mutinational Packers in Canada are doing just fine killing all the cattle they can kill, with extreme profit, and sending it to America in a box. This part is not wrong, it's just reality

.

Sorry, I should have said It's not wrong, BUT IT IS A PROBLEM.

 

[Mike]

Fri, July 1, 2005

Test wide for BSE: expert
Check all cattle over 30 months to restore confidence
By BILL KAUFMANN, Sun

Canada should consider testing all cattle over the age of 30 months, one of the world's foremost scientists on mad cow disease said yesterday.

Jean-Phillippe Deslys said there are undoubtedly more BSE-infected cattle in Canada than have been detected but the scope of the problem is difficult to calculate.

"There are others but you can't have a clear view because the number of tests have been limited," Deslys, an animal disease expert with the French Federal Agency for Food Safety, said in a phone interview from Paris.

WOULD SEEM BARGAIN

Canada now tests 30,000 head of cattle each year out of a total herd of about 17 million.

Deslys said the high cost of extensive testing would seem a bargain when compared with the economic devastation caused by a more lax approach.

"When you face having frontiers closed, it's really cheaper to have systemic testing," said Deslys, who's developed widely used testing procedures.

He said it's becoming increasingly obvious BSE is present in more than just visibly ill or so-called downer cattle.

"At the beginning of the disease, the signs are very discreet," said Deslys, adding you could multiply the number of BSE cases by two or three times the numbers discovered.

The U.S. border has been closed to Canadian livestock since May, 2003, when a single case of BSE was discovered in northern Alberta. Two other cases have since been found in Canada and two in the U.S.

Deslys -- who visited Canada last winter to observe safety practices -- said there's no scientific reason to maintain border closures between the two countries.

"It's quite logical to say Canada's in the exact same situation as the U.S.," he said.

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

Our cow beef in Canada is selling for the same price as before BSE it is just the producer that is losing because we have limited competion for culls. Why do we have to segrgate kill lines when we have the same BSE risk as the US?

 

[Tam]

Fri, July 1, 2005

Test wide for BSE: expert
Check all cattle over 30 months to restore confidence
By BILL KAUFMANN, Sun

Canada should consider testing all cattle over the age of 30 months, one of the world's foremost scientists on mad cow disease said yesterday.

Jean-Phillippe Deslys said there are undoubtedly more BSE-infected cattle in Canada than have been detected but the scope of the problem is difficult to calculate.

"There are others but you can't have a clear view because the number of tests have been limited," Deslys, an animal disease expert with the French Federal Agency for Food Safety, said in a phone interview from Paris.

WOULD SEEM BARGAIN


Canada now tests 30,000 head of cattle each year out of a total herd of about 17 million.

Deslys said the high cost of extensive testing would seem a bargain when compared with the economic devastation caused by a more lax approach.

"When you face having frontiers closed, it's really cheaper to have systemic testing," said Deslys, who's developed widely used testing procedures.
He said it's becoming increasingly obvious BSE is present in more than just visibly ill or so-called downer cattle.

"At the beginning of the disease, the signs are very discreet," said Deslys, adding you could multiply the number of BSE cases by two or three times the numbers discovered.

The U.S. border has been closed to Canadian livestock since May, 2003, when a single case of BSE was discovered in northern Alberta. Two other cases have since been found in Canada and two in the U.S.

Deslys -- who visited Canada last winter to observe safety practices -- said there's no scientific reason to maintain border closures between the two countries.
"It's quite logical to say Canada's in the exact same situation as the U.S.," he said.

Well Mike you have "one of the world's foremost scientists on mad cow disease " saying all these things and what I find interesting is the last highlighted passage.

"It's quite logical to say Canada's in the exact same situation as the U.S.," he said

So woudln't all the things he said about Canada be true for the US also.
Another interesting thing is

Canada now tests 30,000 head of cattle each year out of a total herd of about 17 million.

I thought Oldtimer said the Canadian cattle herd was less than 5% of the US herd. I guess that makes the US herd 340 million and how many has the USDA tested? Our quota may be 30,000 but we reached that number by the second week in June and at the rate we are testing we should double that number by years end.
And last

Deslys said the high cost of extensive testing would seem a bargain when compared with the economic devastation caused by a more lax approach.

How would testing sell more beef when we are selling everything we have the capacity to kill now? Would testing the OVER 30 month slaughtered animals in Canada open up more slaughter capacity somewhere {say the US} for the UNDER 30 month? The lax approach to testing over 30 month is not causing the economic devastation a lack of slaughter capacity is. If Japan opened up and took Canadian beef the only way we could ship it to them would be to cut our exports to the US which wouldn't be a bad thing but we still would not be selling any more beef as we don't have the slaughter capacity to supply both markets. If the Japanese opened to the US they also would have to cut domestic supply as they have proven they don't have enough beef in the US to supply themselves let alone an export market. That is why we should work together to open the Japanese market we have the beef but not the slaughter capacity and the US has the slaughter capacity and not enough beef. put two and two together and you get enough slaughtered beef to supply any export market that will take it. The dumb thing is if R-CALF gets Canadian boxed beef from UTM animals ban because it is unsafe neither the US or Canada will be shipping beef anywhere. How can UTM boxed beef from Canada be unsafe and the same beef from the US be safe when according to this expert we are in the exact same situation. And according to other experts and Japan can back it up that the test doesn't work on younger animals. Even this expert only talks about over 30 months What R-CALF is fighting is a deal for meat and cattle that is UNDER THE TESTING age. If Canada was having a problem sell any beef over or under I could see where this article could mean something but that is not our problem, slaughter capacity is.

 

[Mike]

Is there a question somewhere in there for me?

 

[Tam]

Mike wrote

Is there a question somewhere in there for me?

Well Mike you have "one of the world's foremost scientists on mad cow disease " saying all these things and what I find interesting is the last highlighted passage. "It's quite logical to say Canada's in the exact same situation as the U.S.," he said

So wouldn't all the things he said about Canada be true for the US also?

And last Deslys said the high cost of extensive testing would seem a bargain when compared with the economic devastation caused by a more lax approach.

How would testing sell more beef when we are selling everything we have the capacity to kill now?

I explained how our problem is slaughter capacity so

Would testing the OVER 30 month slaughtered animals in Canada open up more slaughter capacity somewhere {say the US} for the UNDER 30 month?

Would the US or should I say R-CALF agree to open the border to under 30 month slaughter animals if we tested over 30 month? Will our testing clear away the problems in the US system so they will except our UTM cattle for slaughter?

I may also ask why did you post this as testing is not Canada problem right now.

 

[Mike]

TAM:"Would the US or should I say R-CALF agree to open the border to under 30 month slaughter animals if we tested over 30 month? Will our testing clear away the problems in the US system so they will except our UTM cattle for slaughter?

I may also ask why did you post this as testing is not Canada problem right now."

I have no idea what R-Calf would agree to. I say test 'em all and let 'em fly.

I posted this to show that instead of dragging this damn thing out, WHO KNOWS HOW LONG, experts agree to test more for a shorter period of time to get the damn disease out of North America.