The Chinese agriculture ministry today [Thursday] announced a ban on imports of live cattle and beef from Canada, in response to concern about BSE in Canadian cattle. It was the first case in North America in a decade, and only the second ever.
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Last week news broke that a single case of BSE, formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy but commonly referred to as mad cow disease, had been discovered in a cow in Alberta. Countries around the world have been reacting to the news in different ways, with many imposing import bans. Now China has joined their number, imposing a strict ban that includes derived products such as embryos and sperm from Canadian cattle.
The ban could be damaging, as last year China imported about US$12m in live cattle and frozen beef from Canada. No details have been published regarding the proposed duration of the ban, or the conditions under which it might be lifted.
Earlier this week Brazil also suspended imports of beef and certain derived products, although the ban does not extend to bull semen, milk or dairy products. In a statement that sent a shiver down the spines of Canadian beef producers, representatives of farmers in Brazil said they would try to take the market share formerly enjoyed by Canada.
“We must try to take the market share of Canada, the world’s fourth largest beef exporter with 83% of its sales going to the United States,” Antenor Nogueira, private sector manager of the Brazilian Beef Producers’ Chamber said in a statement.
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By GlobalDataA statement from the Canadian Embassy said Canada was “working very closely with all its trading partners […] to safeguard human and animal health and food safety while ensuring the least possible disruption to trade in beef and cattle.”
BSE likely in US
Meanwhile, a report to be published in next Saturday’s issue of UK publication New Scientist will claim that BSE is likely to be present in US cattle herds. Given the fact that the US and Canada share an open trade border, and that the disease has been found in Canada, the magazine asserts that US cattle have probably been infected, reports AFX.
The article also points out that the US and Canada test so few animals that low levels of BSE might escape undetected, adding that other countries that have stepped up testing have found many more cases.
Parties implicated by the discovery are responding in different ways to protect their sales and reputations. In Louisiana, a check of inventories in restaurants and grocery stores appeared to reveal that there was no Canadian beef in the state. Louisiana appears to be the only state to have conducted such an inventory, US meat industry sources said.
In Canada, cattle on three farms in Alberta and Saskatchewan will be slaughtered, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency confirmed this week.
