Bipartisan Senate Bill to punish Brazil introduced ahead of latest mad cow event

It is rare for a response to an event to occur before the event itself. But in a way, that’s what happened last week when Brazil confirmed a case of atypical BSE, or mad cow disease, in its northwestern state of Para. And Brazil is a chronic late reporter on mad cow disease.

Shortly before Brazil reported mad cow disease, U.S. senators from the states of South Dakota, Montana and New Mexico re-tabled their bipartisan bill to suspend Brazilian beef imports into the United States until experts can conduct a systemic review of the commodity’s food safety impact on animal health ,

The sponsors are Senators Jon Tester, D-MT, Mike Rounds, R-SD, and Ben Ray Luján, D-NM.

A new mad cow disease report in Brazil, leading the country to suspend its exports to China with no such action being taken for the United States, worries supporting senators.

“As a third-generation farmer, I know how hard Montana ranchers work to produce the highest quality beef that consumers can trust,” Tester said. “People shouldn’t have to worry about whether the products they buy at the grocery store are safe to eat and that’s why we need to stop Brazilian beef imports until Brazilian producers can prove their products meet our health and safety standards.” fulfill. I will take on everyone, both nationally and internationally, to make sure Montana producers are not shut out of the market by foreign companies that don’t abide by the rules.”

“Ranch families in South Dakota work tirelessly to produce the safest, highest quality and most affordable beef on earth,” said Rounds. “Producers’ livelihoods are being threatened by Brazilian beef imports that fail to meet our country’s food safety and animal health standards due to a history of Brazil’s failure to timely and accurately report diseases detected in its herds. This poses a significant threat to both American producers and consumers. Consumers should be able to confidently feed their families with beef that meets the strict standards mandated in the United States. Our bipartisan legislation would ensure Brazilian beef can be safely transported and eaten before entering our markets and neutralize Brazil’s deceptive trade tactics.”

Senators first introduced the bill in November 2021 after Brazil discovered two cases of atypical bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or “mad cow disease,” in June.

Most countries immediately report similar cases to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) – with both the UK and Germany reporting problems to the OIE within days of their emergence earlier this year – but Brazil reported its cases more than 2 months ago later fact, breach of trust with the OIE and global trading partners. This was a routine incident and Brazil also waited months or years to report similar cases in 2019, 2014 and 2012.

Ethan Lane, vice president of government affairs for the Denver-based National Cattleman’s Beef Association, told attendees at an industry event that BSE cases in Brazil are always reported months or years late.

“We understand that this is an atypical case. They sent it to the World Organization for Animal Health for confirmation. What we don’t know yet is the schedule,” Lane said.

Brazil is apparently the only country that does not report within 24 hours.

Atypical cases are not the same as classic cases, they do not pose a threat to the herd and occur spontaneously, but timely reporting makes the system work properly.

Lane says Brazil has never reported any of these in a timely manner in the past 10 years.

Brazil enjoys privileged market access on the global stage due to its classification as a “negligible risk” exporter by the OIE.

While rare, one-off cases of atypical BSE do not necessarily indicate systemic problems with the health of Brazilian cattle herds, repeated delays in reporting point to an overly lax food safety system and raise concerns about reporting of other dangerous diseases such as foot and foot-mouth disease , African swine fever and bird flu.

The Senate bill would ensure Brazilian beef is safe to eat before entering US markets by imposing a moratorium on Brazilian beef pending a recommendation on its import status by a panel of food safety, animal health and trade experts has submitted. The legislation is supported by the US Cattlemen’s Association, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and R-CALF USA.

“The United States has some of the highest food safety and animal health standards in the world, and any country wishing to trade with the United States must demonstrate that it can meet those standards. Brazil’s track record of not reporting atypical BSE cases is unacceptable and we must hold all trading partners, without exception, accountable,” Lane said.

“Put simply, Brazil is a bad player in the world market. Several countries, including China, banned Brazilian beef over the past year following animal and human health concerns in the country,” said Whitney Klasna, vice president of the US Cattlemen’s Association. “It is outrageous that we continue to accept imports of beef from a country that has no interest in maintaining the high standards and quality of the US beef and beef industry. USCA looks forward to working with Senator’s Testers and Rounds to bring this bill to the President’s desk.”

“Our country’s national security depends on food security, and Senator Tester and Senator Round’s bill to protect the security of our food supply by banning beef from Brazil, which has historically failed to meet our food safety requirements, is becoming that helping ensure that only safe and wholesome beef is available in our food supply chain,” said Bill Bullard, CEO of R-CALF USA.

Senators have repeatedly raised concerns about the safety of Brazilian beef. After repeated reports that Brazilian beef exports were rotten or otherwise unsafe, they faced opposition from the Biden administration over concerns about potential retaliation against the US beef industry.

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