NCBA Expresses Concerns to USDA About Foreign Animal Diseases

WASHINGTON, D.C. (August 6, 2002) – The nation’s leading cattle producer organization has again contacted key government agency trade, animal health, and food safety officials to express concern about countries wanting to export meat into the U.S.

Wythe Willey, president of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), today sent a letter to USDA asking for a fact finding trip with appropriate federal and state government officials, as well as U.S. beef industry leadership, to Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.  This trip would examine systems of disease eradication and border controls to prevent the reinfestation and spread of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD).  The letter was sent to USDA Undersecretary J.B. Penn, USDA Undersecretary Elsa Murano, Ph.D., and USDA Undersecretary Bill Hawks.

According to Willey, a cattle producer from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, several South American countries are at various stages of requesting and recertifying their FMD-free status and eligibility to export fresh and frozen beef to the U.S.  Paraguay, in particular, is a major concern, Willey says, because it was apparently the reservoir of FMD infection that led to the last outbreaks of FMD in Brazil and Argentina and shares common borders with those countries.

On July 17, NCBA submitted comments to the Animal and Plant Inspection Service (APHIS) objecting to proposed changes in regulations regarding the verification of cooking requirements for products from countries where FMD, Rinderpest and other diseases exist.

In the Aug. 6 letter, Willey wrote, “We have worked tirelessly to ensure that our herd health is maintained with regards to FMD, BSE and other foreign animal diseases and have contributed to efforts to assist our North American trading partners in eradicating or preventing introduction of these diseases from within their borders as well.”  He pointed out that FMD has been eradicated from North America, including all Central American countries, with a 50-mile wide animal-free zone maintained at the southern tip of Panama.

Last year, Argentina and Uruguay lost their FMD-free status and their ability to ship fresh, chilled and frozen product to the United States.  Willey pointed out that Argentine officials were “less than forthcoming about the FMD outbreaks and in fact did not report the FMD reoccurrences until nearly three months after they occurred.”  Consequently, “our producers must be reassured that the proper protections are in place so that our herd health is not jeopardized.”

“If reintroduced into Central or North America, FMD could have a devastating effect on livestock producers and the economies involved, as was demonstrated when FMD outbreaks occurred in

 Europe last year,” Willey said.  For that reason, this country’s cattle producers must have assurances “that the proper border controls, verification processes and mitigating measures are in place in these South American countries and their surrounding neighbors before FMD-free status is granted to allow shipments of fresh and frozen product to the United States to resume.”