Cattlemen's Capitol Concerns
September 4, 2008
Contact: Heather Vaughan, 202-347-0228, or hvaughan@beef.org
The Cattlemen’s Capitol Concerns (CCC) is a weekly report from Washington, D.C., giving an up-to-date summary of top policy initiatives concerning the cattle industry; direct from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA). Please feel free to reprint in full or in part. If you would like to include NCBA’s logo, contact us at 303-694-0305.
Industry to Brief USDA on Standardized COOL Affidavit: On Friday, September 5, 2008, representatives from the livestock and meat industries will brief USDA Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Bruce Knight on a standardized affidavit that can be used throughout the cattle marketing chain to verify animals’ origin. The affidavit is available online at http://www.beefusa.org/uDocs/countryoforiginaffidavit453.pdf.
“Our goal was to create a simple, efficient, and effective means of declaring livestock origin from conception to consumer, and we believe this affidavit does exactly that,” said Andy Groseta, Arizona cattle producer and NCBA President. Producers can fill in information specific to their cattle and assert the origin of any animal being sold. Livestock marketers further along the ownership chain can use individual affidavits to create a single, combined affidavit for a group of animals.
“Representatives from every point in the supply chain unanimously agreed to use this standardized affidavit, which will greatly ease the burden that mandatory Country of Origin Labeling places on producers,” Groseta explained.
Industry representatives will also discuss the problem of so-called “gap cattle,” which are cattle that were in the country prior to July 16, 2008, and thus automatically considered of U.S. origin, but have since changed hands without being accompanied by an affidavit.
Groseta acknowledged the problem, saying, “We are well aware that owners of these animals would be very hard pressed to recreate the paper trail documenting origin.” The industry consensus is that owners should be considered to have first-hand knowledge of those cattle and animals should be allowed to move from these premises on that same standard affidavit.
“NCBA will continue to work on behalf of our cattlemen to put in place an effective and accurate labeling system,” Groseta stated. “Additionally, we will be leading the effort to educate producers on how to comply with the new rule.”
For more information about the industry consensus, please read the stakeholder letter at http://www.beefusa.org/uDocs/countryoforiginaffidavitcoverletter.pdf.
The interim final COOL rule was published in the Federal Register on August 1, 2008. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued the rule to allow for industry comment prior to issuing a final rule, while simultaneously meeting the September 30, 2008 COOL implementation deadline. The interim final rule contains definitions, requirements for consumer notification and product marking, and the responsibilities of both retailers and suppliers for covered commodities.
The full rule is available online at http://federalregister.gov/page2.aspx.
Appeals Court Rules in Favor of USDA’s Block on BSE Testing: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturned a lower court ruling that would have allowed Creekstone Farms to test all of its processed cows for Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE). USDA opposed the tests as giving consumers a false perception of food safety.
Since most animals are sent to slaughter well before the age at which BSE typically is detected, testing 100% of cattle would be about as effective as testing kindergarten children for Alzheimer’s disease.
NCBA believes that testing for marketing purposes redirects critical resources from real food safety challenges and has argued that in the case of a false positive, the impacts on the beef industry could be devastating.
What’s more, it would set a dangerous precedent—forcing companies to ignore science-based standards for testing. Neither consumers nor beef producers should pay for frivolous tests.
NCBA has worked with the U.S. government for more than a decade to establish a series of safety firewalls that have lowered the risk of BSE to virtually zero.
We are committed to real food safety initiatives, such as the current feed ban that ensures no cattle are ever exposed to feed that could potentially transmit BSE and the removal from the food supply any material that is known to carry the agent such as spinal cord and brain. These are what ensure we produce the safest beef in the world.
Japanese Prime Minister Resigns: On Tuesday, September 02, 2008, Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda announced his resignation after a period of economic trouble, scandals within his Liberal Democratic Party, and a declining approval rate.
Potential candidates to take over for Fukudo include the Secretary-General of the party, Taro Aso; former Defense Minister Yuriko Koike, and Economics Minister Kaoru Yosano.
NCBA continues to monitor how the political landscape in Japan will affect U.S. beef exports. Although the U.S. will likely ship about $300 million to Japan in 2008, this is still more than $1 billion short of the mark set in 2003. That shortfall is not only due to the shifting political climate, but also the import restriction for beef from cattle aged less than 21 months, combined with the relative strength of the dollar as compared to the Japanese Yen.
Exports to Korea, E.U., and Russia Continue to Grow: Nearly two months have passed since the U.S. resumed beef exports to South Korea and as of August 21, the U.S. had 77 million pounds of beef on the books to Korea and 26 million pounds of it has been shipped.
Two other bright spots on the export side of the business involve the European Union and Russia. Since Russia reopened to U.S. beef on December 3, 2007, U.S. beef exports have built steadily to an impressive level. More than 70 million pounds of beef have been sold and unofficial figures through August suggest we may now have some $75-80 million in beef sales on the books to Russia.
Through the first half of 2008, sales to the EU already exceed $50 million versus $18 million during the same period in 2007.
In fact, the overall beef export sales pace to date would suggest that the U.S. is on track to export about $3.5 billion in beef and beef variety meats in 2008, which would be second only to the pre-2003 mark of $3.86 billion.
OIG Recommends Improvements for FSIS Recall Procedures: The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has conducted an audit of recall procedures for adulterated or contaminated product that has already entered the food distribution chain.
The report evaluates whether the Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) could improve the recall process itself, as well as whether FSIS is taking full advantage of its authority to address recalls.
The OIG recommends that FSIS implement a protocol to collect and analyze a more representative sample of product at an establishment to conclude whether contamination occurred there. In addition, the OIG recommends that FSIS finalize and implement its draft directive for investigating foodborne illnesses and its revised directive for handling recalls.
OIG Follow-up Review of Food and Safety Inspection Service’s (FSIS Controls over Imported Meant and Poultry Products: On August 27, 2008 the OIG released the fifth in a series of reports regarding FSIS’ foreign equivalency inspection program. FSIS evaluates foreign food regulatory systems for equivalency through document reviews, on-site audits and port-of-entry reinspection of products at the time of importation.
In this report, OIG noted additional areas of FSIS’ equivalence and reinspection processes that could be enhanced, including documentation of management controls as well as statistically demonstrating they are providing the appropriate level of protection to ensure safety and wholesomeness of imported product.
In the previous reports OIG had made 51 recommendations to strengthen FSIS’ regulatory oversight of imported meat and poultry products, of which OIG states that they found FSIS to have successfully implemented the corrective actions for 49 of these 51. For the remaining two recommendations, OIG determined that FSIS had not documented the protocols provided regarding FSIS’ Office of International Affairs’ (OIA’s) management controls.
Meat, poultry and egg products exported from another nation must meet all safety standards applied to foods produces in the United States. However, under international law, food regulatory systems in exporting countries may employ sanitary measures that differ from those applied domestically by the importing country.
The U.S. makes determinations of equivalence by evaluating whether foreign food regulatory systems attain the appropriate level of protection provided by our domestic system. Thus, while foreign food regulatory systems need not be identical to the U.S. system, they must employ equivalent sanitary measures that provide the same level of protection against food hazards as is achieved domestically.
NCBA will continue to evaluate the report and the agency’s responses.
USDA Addresses Veterinarian Shortages: USDA’s Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) has scheduled a public meeting for September 15, 2008 in Washington DC to solicit comments regarding implementation of the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program (VMLRP). In exchange for providing veterinary services in veterinarian shortage situations, USDA would help repay loans for participating vets. For more information, please visit: http://www.csrees.usda.gov/business/reporting/stakeholder/an_stakeholder_vmlrp.html.
USDA Holds Workshop on “Emerging Issues in Global Meat Trade”: The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) will hold a workshop September 18 and 19, 2008 to discuss the potential market and trade impacts of cloning, the influence of animal diseases and sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) restrictions on trade flows, global meat supply and demand issues, feed grain suppliers in the global meat complex, and country-of-origin labeling (COOL). NCBA’s Chief Economist Gregg Doud will be speaking on the impact of bilateral and regional trade agreements on meat trade. The workshop is free and open to all, but space is limited. For more information, please visit http://www.ers.usda.gov/ConferenceCenter/GlobalMeat/index.htm.
Don't Miss the Award-Winning NCBA’s Cattlemen to Cattlemen: On this week’s edition, airing September 9th through September 14th we’ll visit the Longview Animal Nutrition Center in Missouri and to learn more about the importance of cattle nutrition. Plus, we’ll head out to an Environmental Stewardship Award winning ranch and we’ll learn more about the mandatory premises registration system in Michigan.
From September 16th through September 21st, we’ll learn more about treating brush in the southwest from the experts at Dow AgroSciences. Plus, we’ll hear from the new CEO of the American Angus Association.
NCBA’S Cattlemen to Cattlemen debuts Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. The show also airs Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. and on Sunday at 12:00 a.m. (All Times are Eastern) Don’t forget, you can watch NCBA’s Cattlemen to Cattlemen online anytime by visiting CattlemenToCattlemen.org.
NCBA’s Cattlemen to Cattlemen on RFD-TV provides weekly news and features for cattle producers across the country. It airs every Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. Eastern time, with repeat episodes on Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m. and Sundays at midnight (all times Eastern).
The program’s sponsors include Purina Mills, Fort Dodge Animal Health, Dow AgroSciences, Bayer Animal Health and McDonald’s.
For more information or to check out past episodes, visit www.cattlementocattlemen.org.
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