Canada Revises Its BSE Import Policy

[farmers_son]

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is proposing to revise its BSE import policy for bovine animals and their products. After having established a clear domestic regulatory response to the detection of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in Canada, it is now time to update the import policy under which animal health, food safety and certain other aspects of public health are protected from exposure to BSE risk from sources remaining outside of Canadian territory. In so doing, the proposed policy closely adheres to current and anticipated science-based standards of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) as well as the recently agreed North American BSE import standard.

Public comments are invited. The draft policy can be viewed at:

http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/anima/heasan/disemala/bseesb/imp/bovpole.shtml

Under this new policy the U.S. would be classed as Negligible Risk and would be able to import live cattle and a wide range of beef products without apparent reference to the age of the animal other than as it pertains to removal of SRMs.

As I read the draft policy, Japan would be able to import beef products into Canada, which is something the Japanese were asking for after Canada had its May 20 first case of BSE.

The proposed USDA rule would need to be revised if the U.S. is going meet the science based standards agreed to in the North American BSE import standard.

[farmers_son]

I haven't seen it anywhere for years. Didn't it have arsenic in it or something equally as lethal ??? I have a Vet friend that laughs about the folks that used to place a lot of faith in Dr. bells, but I can remember the neighbours treating calves with it when they had colic and it worked wonders.

[mb_rancher]

Did you mean Mansfields western shop?

[15444]

MR, yeah, Mansfield's....couldn't quite remember the name.

emrald, lots of vets don't give it much credit, but it always seemed to save the day at our place when everything else had been tried and the animal was almost dead. My father is one of those people who have a lot of faith in Dr. Bell's. The label on our bottle is worn off, but I suspect it had some pretty lethal stuff as it affects nerves and tissues and could kill a person.

[cowman]

If Canada is going to revise its policy, is everyone else? There are days when I wonder how come we always are the "good guy" and let everyone else screw us?
I suspect that in the end it all comes down to making money? The meat shops in Toronto and Montreal want access to foreign meat...for whatever reason...and the primary producer is basically expendable.
Back in the seventies our cow market had a little spike and prices were very good. In came a lot of Irish cow beef!
Finally after a lot of pressure by the CCA and ABP the feds got off their butts and did a bit of investigating...they found out the Irish beef was being subsidized by about 20% more than the cow price we were recieving! Of course that took about six months and by that time our cow market was destroyed.
Meanwhile the deli owners in the "golden triangle" made a fortune on what was basically free Irish beef!
I still find it very strange Australia can ship cow meat half way around the world and out compete our 25 cent cows? What are they getting for their cows in Australia? What is the freight on a pound of beef from Australia?

[farmers_son]

I worked out the price of live Aussie steers and cows in Canadian dollars at 84 cents for live steers and 54 cents for live cows.

See: http://www.vle.com.au/

It has been my understanding that goods can be shipped by ship at very reasonable cost.

As for what everyone else is doing, the three NAFTA partners are committed to revising their BSE policies, I believe within 90 days of the end of March. Japan is sensitive to the new OIE guidelines and the WTO moves towards easing restrictions on BSE. Although the International Review Panel told the U.S. that they needed to show leadership regarding BSE it is not surprising that Canada is taking the lead role given that we are the ones taking it in the pocketbook.

These draft policies are open for comments and no doubt some of those comments will come from the U.S. I note that comments are to be submitted by July 22 which interestingly enough is about the same time as the R-Calf court date in Montana.