Statement Regarding the EU Proposed Tallow Ban

No other country in the world has gone to the same extent as the US to keep bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) out of its beef supply. For over ten years, American beef producers have worked with the US government to successfully keep their cattle herds 100% BSE-free. It is reprehensible for the EU to suddenly use a food safety issue such as BSE to ban US beef tallow from its markets. Clearly, this is not about food safety, but is instead an unfair trade barrier in order to retaliate against the US beef industry for its pending action to lift the EU's current ban on US beef products.

   When it comes to proving the safety of US beef, the American cattle industry and government can site many proactive and preemptive measures that have been taken. Such measures include a decade of aggressive USDA surveillance of cattle herds and testing of thousands of brain samples, a 1989 ban on imports of beef and beef products from all countries with BSE, and a ban on feeding animal protein by-products to cattle that was initiated voluntarily by cattlemen over a year ago, that was later made into a federal rule by the FDA.

   Even though tallow-based products that are processed using US standards have been found to be safe by an EU scientific committee, the European Commission continues to insist that they are risky. The EU position, despite the lack of any scientific evidence to prove it, parallels their action ten years ago to ban all US beef treated with growth promotants. As in the case of the EU beef ban, the US cattle industry will fight the EU on their decision to ban US tallow. As in the case of the EU beef ban, we are confident that we will this fight based on the safety of our product and the EU's lack of scientific conclusions. As full members of the world trading community, the EU must use legitimate science to back up any claims it makes against US beef and beef products. Otherwise, their efforts will continue to be seen as nothing more than unfair trade barriers and retaliatory measures.

Initiated in 1898, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association is the marketing organization and trade association for America's one million cattle farmers and ranchers. With offices in Denver, Chicago and Washington, DC, NCBA is a consumer-focused, producer-directed organization representing the largest segment of the nation's food and fiber industry.