040118 Mexico May Ease U.S. Beef Import Ban Soon

Washington - Mexico will ease its ban on some U.S. beef products as soon as Washington implements new safeguards for preventing another case of deadly mad cow disease, Mexico's agriculture secretary said.

The top farm officials from the United States, Mexico and Canada met in Washington on Friday to craft uniform beef production rules as a way of controlling the spread of mad cow disease, which has crippled U.S. and Canadian beef exports.

"The Mexican border will be open to United States beef as soon as the United States implements the measures that they have offered to do and that satisfies the Mexican officials," said Javier Usabiaga, Mexico's Agriculture Secretary, at a news conference with his U.S. and Canadian counterparts in Washington.

USDA Undersecretary J.B. Penn told reporters "It shouldn't be very long" before Mexico allows some U.S. beef shipments.

Mexico, the second largest foreign buyer of U.S. beef, stopped allowing imports of U.S. beef and live cattle after the Dec. 23 discovery of mad cow disease in a Holstein cow slaughtered in Washington state.

However, the USDA has issued a series of new food safety rules, including bans on central nervous system tissue from older cattle and meat from cows unable to walk, in hopes the measures would reassure consumers that U.S. beef is safe.

Usabiaga said the two countries will meet again on Tuesday to discuss easing the ban. "Hopefully by the end of the following week ... we will see the results of the things that they have implemented," Usabiaga also said.

Usabiaga didn't comment on what U.S. beef products might soon be allowed.

Mexico allows imports of Canadian boneless beef cuts from cattle younger than 30 months of age, despite Canada's disclosure in May 2003 of its own case of mad cow disease.

BEEF DISRUPTION

The two mad cow cases last year severely disrupted the movement of beef and live cattle throughout North America. U.S. beef exports normally total about $3.2 billion annually.

"It is vital, given our integrated market, that we work to harmonize our rules and processes regarding BSE," Veneman said of the United States, Canada and Mexico. Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, is the scientific name for mad cow disease.

Canadian Agriculture Minister Bob Speller noted the three countries' leaders have agreed to move promptly to bring the "normalization of trade in beef."

Canada is hoping the United States relaxes its ban on live Canadian cattle, which has been in place since last May. Neither Veneman nor Speller gave any specific timetable for a reopening of that trade, but the Canadian noted "there's work to be done."

Penn and other Bush administration officials will be in Japan next week, hoping to convince Tokyo to ease the trade ban it implemented after the discovery of the U.S. mad cow case. Japan is the largest export market for U.S. beef with annual purchases worth about $1 billion.

A Japanese technical team just spent about a week in the United States, reviewing new steps to prevent the spread of the animal brain-wasting disease which has been linked to about 140 human deaths, mostly in Europe.

Penn told USDA Radio that his visit to Japan will be aimed at explaining new U.S. safeguards so that trade can resume "as quickly as possible."

Japanese officials recently expressed concern about the adequacy of USDA's new rules on cattle slaughter. But they also have said they want to cooperate with U.S. attempts to reopen trade in a "step-by- step" manner.

The delegation will also travel to the Philippines, Hong Kong and South Korea

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