040302 France Says U.S. Ban on Meats Unjustified

Paris - France said a U.S. ban on imports of foie gras, cured hams and other gourmet meats over hygiene standards was unjustified but dismissed the notion it was in retaliation for Europe's embargo on U.S. chickens and eggs to keep out bird flu.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (news - web sites) said Tuesday it would suspend all imports of French beef, pork and poultry products due to health concerns at 11 French meat processors licensed to export to the United States.

"France does not share the observations made by the U.S. authorities nor their conclusions," a government spokesman said.

Farm Minister Herve Gaymard, who sent top officials to Washington Monday in a last-ditch bid to resolve the crisis, said the ban was unjustified and he would fight it.

"Food safety standards in Europe, and in France, are the highest and most trustworthy in the world. I am looking to resolve this situation as soon as possible," he told reporters.

Asked if he saw a link with a European Union (news - web sites) decision on Tuesday to ban eggs and day-old chicks from the United States, Gaymard said: "It's totally unconnected."

He said the move followed inspections by U.S. health officials between January 15 and February 5, well before the latest outbreak of avian flu in Texas.

EU officials in Brussels agreed there was no connection.

"It's a coincidence the U.S. halted French foie gras and pork imports on the same day," Commission food safety spokeswoman Beate Gminder told reporters.

"The U.S. and EU have different ways of checking hygiene standards in food factories and it's a recurring problem."

PRODUCERS CRY FOUL

Of the 11 companies hit by the ban, eight produce foie gras -- a liver pate made by force-feeding geese or ducks -- two sell cooked meat and one was a pig slaughterhouse, France's meat producers' federation FICT said.

FCIT said the inspections had not revealed any major hygiene faults and the suspension was "disproportionate."

The industry also rejected the ban as unfair, and was in little doubt it was politically motivated.

"It's a retaliation measure. The United States is trying to put pressure on the EU because of the bird flu ban," a spokesman for the French poultry association CAF said. "It's outrageous."

An official from French foie gras producers' group Cifog also called it a political move, but added the consequences would be small as foie gras exports to the United States were already very low.

The United States in 1999 imposed a 100 percent tax on several European gourmet products, including foie gras, in retaliation for the EU ban on U.S. hormone-treated beef.

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