“If Washington, D.C., won’t adopt reasonable trading standards between minimal-risk countries for BSE, how in the world can we persuade Tokyo and Mexico City and Seoul and other foreign governments to do the right thing?”
These are the words of American Meat Institute president Patrick Boyle, and truer words were never spoken.
The institute represents major meat packers in the United States.
It wrote to American agriculture secretary Ann Veneman last week urging the border be reopened.
It is time for North America to get its act together and stand united as an example of how to deal with meat from minimal risk BSE countries.
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The situation in North America is now a mess. Canada will take American beef from young cattle and live cattle destined for immediate slaughter, but not beef from older cattle.
The United States will take Canadian beef from cattle younger than 30 months, but not from older animals and won’t take live cattle.
Mexico will take Canadian beef, but not American product. Canadian beef processors say the packers’ focus on supplying U.S. and Mexican export markets is causing shortages of manufacturing beef at home.
There are upsets all over the continent.
Swifts and Co., America’s third largest packer, has had to cut hours for 1,000 workers at its Greeley, Colorado, plant. Swifts complains that it is at a disadvantage to competitors with operations in Canada – Cargill, owner of Excel in High River, Alta., and Tyson, owner of IBP Lakeside in Brooks, Alta., who are paying less for cattle and therefore can undercut Swifts’ boxed beef prices.
It wants access to Canadian cattle.
Meanwhile in Mexico, soaring beef prices are threatening to increase inflation.
It is time to end all these market disruptions by getting the three North American partners to follow the golden rule: do to others what you would have them do to you.
That means enacting a full restoration of trade in cattle, beef and beef products among the U.S., Canada and Mexico according to the already implemented guidelines set out by the Office of International Epizootics regarding matters such as specified risk material and feed restrictions.
By acting together to resume trade, they would set an example on how to rationally handle BSE that might help convince our offshore customers to do the right thing.
