USDA re-opens Canadian border

[HAY MAKER]

NFBF urges caution as USDA re-opens Canadian border
Friday, November 16, 2007, 3:43 PM

by Peter Shinn

USDA's minimal risk II rule, known by its opponents as the over-30-month rule, goes into effect Monday barring a last-minute judicial injunction preventing its implementation. The rule will allow into the U.S. an expanded roster of Canadian beef products and all Canadian live cattle born after March 1st, 1999.

Five Canadian bovine sponiform encephalopathy cases involved cattle born after that date. And in a press release Friday, Nebraska Farm Bureau Federation Keith Olsen urged USDA to take some additional steps to minimize the risk of fresh BSE cases from Canada.

"We believe Canada continues to have some ongoing problems with BSE cases," the Olsen statement said. "Farm Bureau supports the use of sound science and World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) guidance in classifying countries as a minimal risk region for BSE," he added. "However, we also strongly support efforts by USDA to use measures and protocols when borders are opened to countries with BSE, to ensure consumer confidence and to enhance our domestic beef industry."

The NFBF press release said USDA should take three specific steps. According to NFBF, USDA should permanently identify and track older imported Canadian cattle, implement an enhanced BSE surveillance program for those older Canadian cattle and help Canada enforce its enhanced ruminant-to-ruminant feed ban, which became mandatory in July.

 

[Grandad]

Not looking good is it Old Hay Husker. Where is the R-Calvary when you need them?

 

[Bill]

Looks like Peter Shinn and the NFBF are both following the American tradition of knowing little about the foreign countires they think they know so much about.

Canada's ruminant to ruminant feed ban has been in place for as long as the US and enforced every bit as effectively as the US and in fact was ENHANCED far beyond where the US currently sits in that ruminants are banned from the entire feed supply.

May God bless those who know so little and aren't afraid to show everyone.

 

[Tex]

Looks like Peter Shinn and the NFBF are both following the American tradition of knowing little about the foreign countires they think they know so much about.

Canada's ruminant to ruminant feed ban has been in place for as long as the US and enforced every bit as effectively as the US and in fact was ENHANCED far beyond where the US currently sits in that ruminants are banned from the entire feed supply.

May God bless those who know so little and aren't afraid to show everyone.

Bill, I hope you fellas are pushing to get other markets open. If you don't get away from a falling dollar, it won't really matter if you have the opportunity to sell to the U.S. market---you will still be losing money.

 

[Bill]

Looks like Peter Shinn and the NFBF are both following the American tradition of knowing little about the foreign countires they think they know so much about.

Canada's ruminant to ruminant feed ban has been in place for as long as the US and enforced every bit as effectively as the US and in fact was ENHANCED far beyond where the US currently sits in that ruminants are banned from the entire feed supply.

May God bless those who know so little and aren't afraid to show everyone.

Bill, I hope you fellas are pushing to get other markets open. If you don't get away from a falling dollar, it won't really matter if you have the opportunity to sell to the U.S. market---you will still be losing money.

Take heed of my last line Econ.

 

[Tex]

Looks like Peter Shinn and the NFBF are both following the American tradition of knowing little about the foreign countires they think they know so much about.

Canada's ruminant to ruminant feed ban has been in place for as long as the US and enforced every bit as effectively as the US and in fact was ENHANCED far beyond where the US currently sits in that ruminants are banned from the entire feed supply.

May God bless those who know so little and aren't afraid to show everyone.

Bill, I hope you fellas are pushing to get other markets open. If you don't get away from a falling dollar, it won't really matter if you have the opportunity to sell to the U.S. market---you will still be losing money.

Take heed of my last line Econ.

I hope you are talking about yourself, there, Bill. It will do no good to call on others for your own failings.

Just how far have you gotten with your efforts? Are you still tied to the falling dollar by a failed policy?

How much beef is Canada shipping to Japan?

 

[Bill]

Bill, I hope you fellas are pushing to get other markets open. If you don't get away from a falling dollar, it won't really matter if you have the opportunity to sell to the U.S. market---you will still be losing money.

Take heed of my last line Econ.

I hope you are talking about yourself, there, Bill. It will do no good to call on others for your own failings.

Just how far have you gotten with your efforts? Are you still tied to the falling dollar by a failed policy?

How much beef is Canada shipping to Japan?

Don't worry; the Bull Session resident "experts" on Canada will soon be up to keep you company. Sandhusker will be in the sandbox with you soon, then OVI will be online to tell you a story about brands, shirtails, packers, bluetongue, COOL or imports before lunch. Hayseed can then come along and join the 3 of you in holding hands and singing a round of Koombya by the campfire this evening. :roll: Then tomorrow you can do it all again!

Have fun with your "he said .. no... he said" games Econ and watch the meds!

 

[Tex]

Take heed of my last line Econ.

I hope you are talking about yourself, there, Bill. It will do no good to call on others for your own failings.

Just how far have you gotten with your efforts? Are you still tied to the falling dollar by a failed policy?

How much beef is Canada shipping to Japan?

Don't worry; the Bull Session resident "experts" on Canada will soon be up to keep you company. Sandhusker will be in the sandbox with you soon, then OVI will be online to tell you a story about brands, shirtails, packers, bluetongue, COOL or imports before lunch. Hayseed can then come along and join the 3 of you in holding hands and singing a round of Koombya by the campfire this evening. :roll: Then tomorrow you can do it all again!

Have fun with your "he said .. no... he said" games Econ and watch the meds!

Thanks for your analysis, Bill. I often find results to be more persuasive than analysis.

How much beef has Canada sold to Japan in the last 6 months?

 

[Mrs.Greg]

Looks like Peter Shinn and the NFBF are both following the American tradition of knowing little about the foreign countires they think they know so much about.

Canada's ruminant to ruminant feed ban has been in place for as long as the US and enforced every bit as effectively as the US and in fact was ENHANCED far beyond where the US currently sits in that ruminants are banned from the entire feed supply.

May God bless those who know so little and aren't afraid to show everyone.

Bill, I hope you fellas are pushing to get other markets open. If you don't get away from a falling dollar, it won't really matter if you have the opportunity to sell to the U.S. market---you will still be losing money.

You make me laugh,you guys are in the same boat we are,you have to rely on packers just as much as we do. Our industry although in a slump after being beaten up so much,is at least stepping into the future,with advanced feed regulations,tag Id's,ADMITTING not HIDING our BSE cases,add Randy to the pack and we're looking forward.

I totally admire Texan,Soapweed, Hanta and sw,Goerge, to name a very few on here that have taken the road towards working together with thier industry and the Canadians,not bashing us every chance they get.

 

[rkaiser]

Guess what is #1 on the list of long term solutions at the Round Table meetings with the Alberta Government and taken to Federal meetings by our Ag minister just yesterday.

 

[Anonymous]

Guess what is #1 on the list of long term solutions at the Round Table meetings with the Alberta Government and taken to Federal meetings by our Ag minister just yesterday.

Raises for all the board members and politicians as a bonus for the great job they're doing :wink: :lol:

 

[Sandhusker]

Bill, "Canada's ruminant to ruminant feed ban has been in place for as long as the US and enforced every bit as effectively as the US and in fact was ENHANCED far beyond where the US currently sits in that ruminants are banned from the entire feed supply. "

You know why it was ENHANCED? Because it DIDN'T WORK!

 

[Tex]

Looks like Peter Shinn and the NFBF are both following the American tradition of knowing little about the foreign countires they think they know so much about.

Canada's ruminant to ruminant feed ban has been in place for as long as the US and enforced every bit as effectively as the US and in fact was ENHANCED far beyond where the US currently sits in that ruminants are banned from the entire feed supply.

May God bless those who know so little and aren't afraid to show everyone.

Bill, I hope you fellas are pushing to get other markets open. If you don't get away from a falling dollar, it won't really matter if you have the opportunity to sell to the U.S. market---you will still be losing money.

You make me laugh,you guys are in the same boat we are,you have to rely on packers just as much as we do. Our industry although in a slump after being beaten up so much,is at least stepping into the future,with advanced feed regulations,tag Id's,ADMITTING not HIDING our BSE cases,add Randy to the pack and we're looking forward.

I totally admire Texan,Soapweed, Hanta and sw,Goerge, to name a very few on here that have taken the road towards working together with thier industry and the Canadians,not bashing us every chance they get.

Mrs. Greg, all of the things I have advocated have been policies that get you out of the mess you are in. It is not meant to "bash" you, it is meant to point the way to get out. We have the exact, and I mean exact, same problems in the U.S. with our national policy.

We have to extricate (to take out) of the equation what is good for some and look at what is good for all. When you lump your interests in with bad policy or packers, you will not be able to solve the problem.

I too am glad there are producer advocates. Helping show/promote those advocates where to "win" is just as important.

It can not be done if you are not looking out for consumer interests, in the case of bse or any other disease, you will not formulate an honest policy that has integrity. You will be undermining your own self interest by looking at the most favorable solutions of the short term.

 

[QUESTION]

SandH you seem to have a misconception. The reason for enhancing the feedban is so that in the future there will be no BSE in canada. And if it is found canadians will know it came from contaminated feed from the US. Our enhancements including a SRM management strategy are set up to get rid of BSE within a few years, UNlike the US feedban with it's loopholes that is spreading disease. Maybe you guys should concentrate on enforcing the feedban down south and eliminating loopholes before telling Canadians how to improve their more stringent rules. I find it tragically funny that that r-calfers say the canadian herd is so infected with BSE the border must stay closed, so did this happen overnight ? no - before 2003 cattle flowed back and forth freely so with the hundreds of thousands of canadian cattle in the US and only one was found with BSE. Science, common sense and logical thinking say there should be at lot more should be found in the US if the infection rate in exported cattle was the same as the cattle that stayed in canada. But no r-calf members want to talk about that. :roll: And SandH says the US will not be testing canadian OTM cattle for BSE so how does he expect to find any positives? His reaction is to keep the border closed to OTM canadian cattle as small the number that will come down. Maybe start testing the only problem then is who will pay for it? If the US wants to test have fun?

 

[Sandhusker]

Q, now that you've mentioned the loopholes on our feed ban and the USDA not testing Canadian OTMs, why do you think it wise for us to import possible BSE carriers?

 

[HAY MAKER]

Guess what is #1 on the list of long term solutions at the Round Table meetings with the Alberta Government and taken to Federal meetings by our Ag minister just yesterday.

HHHHHHHmmmmmmmm #1 huh ? well since you did'nt specifically ID the problem,I would say the solution has to be one of these.
# 1 scantily clad canadian hussies
#2 Crown Royal
#3 more diesel for your backhoes
#4 an enhanced enhanced feed ban
good luck

 

[don]

prostate transplants for all r-calf members?

 

[Mrs.Greg]

Bill, I hope you fellas are pushing to get other markets open. If you don't get away from a falling dollar, it won't really matter if you have the opportunity to sell to the U.S. market---you will still be losing money.

You make me laugh,you guys are in the same boat we are,you have to rely on packers just as much as we do. Our industry although in a slump after being beaten up so much,is at least stepping into the future,with advanced feed regulations,tag Id's,ADMITTING not HIDING our BSE cases,add Randy to the pack and we're looking forward.

I totally admire Texan,Soapweed, Hanta and sw,Goerge, to name a very few on here that have taken the road towards working together with thier industry and the Canadians,not bashing us every chance they get.

Mrs. Greg, all of the things I have advocated have been policies that get you out of the mess you are in. It is not meant to "bash" you, it is meant to point the way to get out. We have the exact, and I mean exact, same problems in the U.S. with our national policy.

We have to extricate (to take out) of the equation what is good for some and look at what is good for all. When you lump your interests in with bad policy or packers, you will not be able to solve the problem.

I too am glad there are producer advocates. Helping show/promote those advocates where to "win" is just as important.

It can not be done if you are not looking out for consumer interests, in the case of bse or any other disease, you will not formulate an honest policy that has integrity. You will be undermining your own self interest by looking at the most favorable solutions of the short term.

I'm proud of the way our country is looking into the future of the cattle industry,we're trying,it maybe a slow process but its looking up and ahead.And no not just in the interests of personal cattlemen ,in the interest of family and friend ingesting our meats.It looks to me like both countries are having food safety issues we have to address.It scares the daylights out of me my grandson will eat something like tainted spinach,and succomb to the illness.Don't ever believe this is just about a business its about life and we do not take that lightly.

 

[Tex]

You make me laugh,you guys are in the same boat we are,you have to rely on packers just as much as we do. Our industry although in a slump after being beaten up so much,is at least stepping into the future,with advanced feed regulations,tag Id's,ADMITTING not HIDING our BSE cases,add Randy to the pack and we're looking forward.

I totally admire Texan,Soapweed, Hanta and sw,Goerge, to name a very few on here that have taken the road towards working together with thier industry and the Canadians,not bashing us every chance they get.

Mrs. Greg, all of the things I have advocated have been policies that get you out of the mess you are in. It is not meant to "bash" you, it is meant to point the way to get out. We have the exact, and I mean exact, same problems in the U.S. with our national policy.

We have to extricate (to take out) of the equation what is good for some and look at what is good for all. When you lump your interests in with bad policy or packers, you will not be able to solve the problem.

I too am glad there are producer advocates. Helping show/promote those advocates where to "win" is just as important.

It can not be done if you are not looking out for consumer interests, in the case of bse or any other disease, you will not formulate an honest policy that has integrity. You will be undermining your own self interest by looking at the most favorable solutions of the short term.

I'm proud of the way our country is looking into the future of the cattle industry,we're trying,it maybe a slow process but its looking up and ahead.And no not just in the interests of personal cattlemen ,in the interest of family and friend ingesting our meats.It looks to me like both countries are having food safety issues we have to address.It scares the daylights out of me my grandson will eat something like tainted spinach,and succomb to the illness.Don't ever believe this is just about a business its about life and we do not take that lightly.

Well, Rep. Bart Stupak had the CEO of Cargill in on an oversight committee hearing. It seems that Hormel and Cargill have been using carbon monoxide to color their meat and not telling anyone. It might be others as well.

The problem with carbon monoxide is that the meat stays a pretty red color even when it starts spoiling. You can't tell that it wasn't fresh. They had meat on the table that was 1yr old, 2 yrs old, fresh and other ages. You couldn't tell by looking at them the difference between any of the meats.

We have to have limitations on our meat processors to keep the good beef you produce safe and nutritious. We need good regulations to keep these people honest so your dream will be a reality.

Mr. Page, I believe it was, said they only had 48 calls since they started with the product line. Stupak asked if anyone was told of the deception. No one was told.

The meat packers had the USDA by pass a rule making decision so there would be no public comment on the method. The consumer groups could not get any freedom of information from the USDA on the process and so could have no input.

When the consumer group did a survey, they found that color was a prime determinate on whether or not meat was fresh. They worried about someone buying meat, and somewhere down the line it wasn't kept refrigerated and then someone cooking it thinking that it still looked good. It could be a real health hazard.

I just bought some strip steak from Sam's. It was a little pricey, but hey, sometimes you get what you pay for. I called Sam's to ask if the meat was treated with carbon monoxide and they said NO. I asked them if they had a lot of calls on their meat. The lady said they had A LOT of calls on it because of the hearings. This is just one little Sam's store in a city. I put a little piece on the counter to see if will turn color as it ages. If it doesn't, the problem will be much larger than I thought. We don't need dishonesty in our product.

We have to make sure our food policy delivers a safe and healthy product to all our customers. It can't be done by making short cuts. It is a good product that is worth every penny. We should be willing to prove its safety and merit to anyone who asks.

 

[Bill]

Mrs. Greg, all of the things I have advocated have been policies that get you out of the mess you are in. It is not meant to "bash" you, it is meant to point the way to get out. We have the exact, and I mean exact, same problems in the U.S. with our national policy.

We have to extricate (to take out) of the equation what is good for some and look at what is good for all. When you lump your interests in with bad policy or packers, you will not be able to solve the problem.

I too am glad there are producer advocates. Helping show/promote those advocates where to "win" is just as important.

It can not be done if you are not looking out for consumer interests, in the case of bse or any other disease, you will not formulate an honest policy that has integrity. You will be undermining your own self interest by looking at the most favorable solutions of the short term.

I'm proud of the way our country is looking into the future of the cattle industry,we're trying,it maybe a slow process but its looking up and ahead.And no not just in the interests of personal cattlemen ,in the interest of family and friend ingesting our meats.It looks to me like both countries are having food safety issues we have to address.It scares the daylights out of me my grandson will eat something like tainted spinach,and succomb to the illness.Don't ever believe this is just about a business its about life and we do not take that lightly.

Well, Rep. Bart Stupak had the CEO of Cargill in on an oversight committee hearing. It seems that Hormel and Cargill have been using carbon monoxide to color their meat and not telling anyone. It might be others as well.

The problem with carbon monoxide is that the meat stays a pretty red color even when it starts spoiling. You can't tell that it wasn't fresh. They had meat on the table that was 1yr old, 2 yrs old, fresh and other ages. You couldn't tell by looking at them the difference between any of the meats.

We have to have limitations on our meat processors to keep the good beef you produce safe and nutritious. We need good regulations to keep these people honest so your dream will be a reality.

Mr. Page, I believe it was, said they only had 48 calls since they started with the product line. Stupak asked if anyone was told of the deception. No one was told.

The meat packers had the USDA by pass a rule making decision so there would be no public comment on the method. The consumer groups could not get any freedom of information from the USDA on the process and so could have no input.

When the consumer group did a survey, they found that color was a prime determinate on whether or not meat was fresh. They worried about someone buying meat, and somewhere down the line it wasn't kept refrigerated and then someone cooking it thinking that it still looked good. It could be a real health hazard.

I just bought some strip steak from Sam's. It was a little pricey, but hey, sometimes you get what you pay for. I called Sam's to ask if the meat was treated with carbon monoxide and they said NO. I asked them if they had a lot of calls on their meat. The lady said they had A LOT of calls on it because of the hearings. This is just one little Sam's store in a city. I put a little piece on the counter to see if will turn color as it ages. If it doesn't, the problem will be much larger than I thought. We don't need dishonesty in our product.

We have to make sure our food policy delivers a safe and healthy product to all our customers. It can't be done by making short cuts. It is a good product that is worth every penny. We should be willing to prove its safety and merit to anyone who asks.

Econ, why would you go and buy your steak. Most of us ranchers eat what we produce. :roll: On second thought, I think I know the answer.