EU Ambassador Accuses U.S. Of Double Standard On Beef Trade
The United States has a double standard when it comes to beef trade rules around bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), according to Ambassador John Bruton, Head of the EU Commission Delegation to the United States.
"For example, the EU and the U.S. worked together in 2005 in the World Animal Health Organization (OIE) to forge a global agreement and recognition of the fact that boneless beef, under 30 months of age, does not pose any BSE risk. This very agreement is used to promote U.S. beef exports in Asia, yet, at the start of 2008, EU exports of boneless beef under 30 months to the USA are still blocked — supposedly because of BSE. This is a double standard," Burton said in a news release.
"The EU has yet to receive OIE designation for BSE," USDA Press Secretary Keith Williams told Meatingplace.com when asked to comment on Bruton's charges.
Bruton also voiced concern that the latest semi-annual regulatory agenda for U.S. government agencies did not include specific planned actions to address the concerns of European exporters about the U.S. market.
"We need to make more progress toward equivalence in the meat sector…we need to move more quickly toward risk-based inspections and away from the costly blanket approach," he said, questioning why USDA inspectors will spend more than 300 days in 2008 between January and September inspecting European meat plants, while EU inspectors will spend only about 30 days in the United States during this period.
Williams says there's a reason for that. "Each of the EU nations has different standards and its own methods. Thus, auditing more than 20 countries' varying food safety systems is quite different than auditing plants within one country's system," he said.
By Janie Gabbett on Monday, January 07, 2008 For Meatingplace.com.
The United States has a double standard when it comes to beef trade rules around bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), according to Ambassador John Bruton, Head of the EU Commission Delegation to the United States.
"For example, the EU and the U.S. worked together in 2005 in the World Animal Health Organization (OIE) to forge a global agreement and recognition of the fact that boneless beef, under 30 months of age, does not pose any BSE risk. This very agreement is used to promote U.S. beef exports in Asia, yet, at the start of 2008, EU exports of boneless beef under 30 months to the USA are still blocked — supposedly because of BSE. This is a double standard," Burton said in a news release.
"The EU has yet to receive OIE designation for BSE," USDA Press Secretary Keith Williams told Meatingplace.com when asked to comment on Bruton's charges.
Bruton also voiced concern that the latest semi-annual regulatory agenda for U.S. government agencies did not include specific planned actions to address the concerns of European exporters about the U.S. market.
"We need to make more progress toward equivalence in the meat sector…we need to move more quickly toward risk-based inspections and away from the costly blanket approach," he said, questioning why USDA inspectors will spend more than 300 days in 2008 between January and September inspecting European meat plants, while EU inspectors will spend only about 30 days in the United States during this period.
Williams says there's a reason for that. "Each of the EU nations has different standards and its own methods. Thus, auditing more than 20 countries' varying food safety systems is quite different than auditing plants within one country's system," he said.
By Janie Gabbett on Monday, January 07, 2008 For Meatingplace.com.