020220 U.S. May Have Imported Banned Beef

February 9, 2002

The United States apparently imported more than 200,000 pounds of beef last year from countries banned from selling meat products here because of their association with "mad cow disease," according to U.S. Department of Agriculture figures.

But Dale Leuck, a member of the USDA's Economic Research Service, said it is too early to tell if the figures represent true imports, or are simply miscoding by Customs officials.

"I think we'd prefer not to take them at face value," he said. "We don't know for sure if it is really beef."

"Of most concern," Leuck acknowledged, are records indicating the imports of 2,156 pounds of "meat and edible meat offal" from the United Kingdom and 970 pounds from Spain.