010359 EU Hopes U.S. Meat Ban Pared Back Soon

Washington - A European Union official expressed optimism that the United States may scale back its broad ban on EU raw meat and livestock toward the end of the month.

The United States imposed the import ban after the highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease spread from Britain to a herd of cattle in France.

“There are positive sounds coming from them (U.S. Agriculture Department),” said Gerry Kiely, agriculture counselor for the European Union in Washington.

However, Kiely said that Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman “didn't commit to a deadline” in conversations this week with EU officials. The USDA has said the EU ban would extend for at least 15 days from March 13.

The EU hopes that at the end of the month the United States will pare back the ban on all 15 countries of the EU, and restrict imports from only the United Kingdom and a region in France where foot-and-mouth disease was confirmed.

The EU estimates it would lose $400 million to $500 million in shipments, mainly pork ribs, to the United States if the current ban were to be kept in place for a year. The USDA, however, projects the value at about $278 million.

Kiely said EU officials expect a scaling back of the U.S. ban if no new outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease are detected in the EU within the 15-day period.

Denmark would be the main benefactor if the ban were to be limited to the UK and France, since it provides most of the pork meat the United States had been buying from the EU.

Kiely said the EU recognizes the deep concerns in the United States that this virulent form of foot-and- mouth disease could be reaching U.S. shores. But he added that the EU-wide ban on meat and livestock represents, “a brutal application of the precautionary approach.”

Some EU officials have gone so far as to suggest the United States was using the limited outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease as an excuse for erecting trade barriers on meat and livestock.

On Friday, Kiely downplayed those suggestions. But he did argue the EU has tough standards in place to stop foot-and- mouth disease from moving beyond the UK and France by basically putting a freeze on the movement of livestock.

“If a cow sneezes in Europe at the moment, they shut the place down,” he said.

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