Two truckloads?

[cowman]

I saw on the news last night that finally two truckloads of beef made it across the border. I wonder how the American consumer will accept this beef?
Or will they never have a clue what they are eating? When they bite into that steak will they figure they just eating good old American beef?
Now when the people ate the kangaroo burgers at Jack-in-the box did they think they were getting American hamburger? They soon found out it was Canadian beef...did they ever find out it was kangaroo from Australia routed through Canada? And for that matter do we know what we are eating when we buy our hamburger? Is it Canadian beef? Or kangaroo? or road kill from Alymers? I'm beginning to get a little uneasy about this whole food safety thing. Just how safe is our food?

[pandiana]

I guess what bothers me most with this post is the 'Two truckloads?'. We have known that the border was to be open on Sept 1st since approximately August 8th when the announcement was made. It took this amount of time to get two truckloads across the border. If this is any indication of the paperwork involved in getting permits, it does not bode well for moving the tremendous back log of fat cattle waiting in feedlots.

[rusty1]

9/11/2003 US Months Away From Importing Canadian Cattle - 9/10 USDA

At the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, there was talk among traders on Wednesday that USDA and Canadian officials had discussed allowing some Canadian feeder cattle into the United States.

But USDA spokeswoman Julie Quick said there were no such meetings.

Quick said lifting the ban on live Canadian cattle must first go through a formal rule-making process.

The USDA has yet to take the first step in the process, which is publishing a notice in the Federal Register for public comment. The proposed rules were expected soon, but USDA would not elaborate.

USDA Chief of Staff Dale Moore told reporters on Monday the department wanted to be sure that Canada had the appropriate safeguards in place before allowing cattle imports.

[rusty1]

I think it's time to start playing hardball!!

[Muttley]

We had some relatives up from Minnesota last week. They had heard of the BSE problem but knew nothing about borders being closed.

I'll bet the average Americain knows nothing about the situation, or even cares.

[rusty1]

You're right I talked to a major feedlot in Kansas 2 days ago and he thought our beef consumption had dropped.

[mcauley]

did you tell him it was up 62%?