WESTERN BUREAU:
SEVEN MONTHS after the Agriculture Ministry banned the importation of beef from the United States, Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke says he will delay lifting the ban due to concerns that two cases of suspected Mad Cow disease have surfaced in the U.S. in the last two weeks.
"The latest case (of suspected Mad Cow disease) has been discovered in an animal that was born and bred in the US. They are running some tests now and we await the results, but that has caused a setback in the lifting of the ban by Jamaica," explained Mr. Clarke. He pointed out that Jamaica would also consult with the Organization of International Epizootics before removing the ban on US beef.
AGE OF THE ANIMALS
"We were looking at opening up the market to US beef under certain conditions, such as age of the animals and certain cuts...but this new case that has been discovered has put a damper on that," Mr. Clarke said in an interview with The Gleaner.
The Minister says while Jamaica's decision to lift the ban remains in limbo, the country continues to communicate with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) on the state of its beef industry. Minister Clarke says he is expecting a correspondence on the matter from the USDA, early next week.
The USDA had disclosed on June 25 that testing under the nationwide screening programme for cattle had uncovered an initial positive result in one cow. But subsequent testing revealed that the brain sample of the cow did not contain the abnormal proteins that can cause the fatal disease. On June 29, the US government announced that it is conducting a similar test on a second cow, at the National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa.
In the meantime, owing to renewed fears about the safety of US beef, the Agriculture Ministry says it is also reviewing its importation of beef suet (also called beef fat) from the United States, which had resumed in March this year. According to Mr. Clarke, his ministry is taking a "serious look" at the import situation with regard to beef suet from the US.
