GRACE, KENNEDY & Co. Ltd., the largest local distributor of corned beef, estimates that it will take at least another two or three weeks before it can determine the number of cases pulled from supermarket shelves because of a ban on imports from France.
In an interview yesterday, Michael Ranglin, general manager of Grace Foods and Services, said the recall was a precautionary measure so "consumers, when they pick up a tin of corned beef, won't have to worry". At the same time he sought to assure consumers that most of the company's corned beef imports were not affected because they come from Brazil.
He is, however, asking consumers to read their corned beef labels and to return any tins which bear the label, "Product of France." These come in a cylindrical tin.
The voluntary recall, also being carried out by Lasco Distributors, follows a temporary ban on the importation of beef and beef products from Europe owing to an increase in cases of the debilitating "Mad Cow" disease, which causes apprehension, nervousness, aggression and deterioration in affected animals and fatally ravages the brains of humans who eat the infected meat. Officials at Lasco Distributors were unavailable for comment yesterday.
The Jamaica Bureau of Standards imposed the ban on Tuesday after a special meeting with local distributors and representatives from the Veterinary Division in the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Health, and the Food Storage and Prevention Infestation Unit.
Yesterday, Dr. Omer Thomas, the bureau's executive director, said that the ban would remain "until the epidemiological situation changes."
French Trade Commissioner Jean-Pierre Laclau is hoping for a speedy end to Jamaica's ban on importation of corned beef from his country.
In a release, Mr. Laclau pointed to the reasons, he said, why corned beef imported into Jamaica from France was safe for consumption. These included checks by Jamaica's Veterinary Services which carried out a fact-finding study in February 2000, and reported that "meat and meat products originating in France into Jamaica should pose little or no potential public and animal health risks."
Also, he mentioned France's adoption of strict measures to specifically deal with "Mad Cow" disease, also called bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), and that the beef was tested before and after killing the animals and was certified by a veterinary surgeon.
Also, the animals were killed in controlled and certified slaughter houses, he said. The Trade Commissioner said there was full traceability of meat used by beef processors, back from the individual animal for each batch, and that all meat comes from beef carcasses which were individually certified safe and free of BSE and only the muscles were used for consumption.
