DA lifts ban on beef imports from Canada

The Department of Agriculture (DA) has lifted the ban imposed last May on all beef imports from Canada due to the alleged mad cow disease that struck a top cattle-producing region in northern Alberta.

Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo Jr. ordered the lifting of the ban after Canada gave assurance that it has implemented measures to contain the outbreak of the brain-wasting bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or mad-cow disease.

"Based on the evaluation of the Bureau of Animal Industry, the risk of contamination from importing meat and meat products derived from Canada is negligible," said Lorenzo.

The government, however, will require meat exporters in Canada to secure a certification from the Canadian Veterinary Administration that it has complied with a numbere of requirements before they are allowed to ship their products to the Philippines.

This includes the carrying out of ante-mortem inspection on all cattle from which meat or meat products destined for export originate.

Furthermore, fresh meat and meat exports destined for export should not contain brain, eyes, spinal cord or mechanically separated meat from skull and vertebral column from cattle over 30 months of age.

The ban imposed last May included live cattle, sheep and goat, their meat and meat products; bovine embryo; meat and bone meal and other feed ingredient derived from said cloven hoofed animals.

Bureau of Animal Industry officials said there was then a need to ban the entry of Canadian meat products particularly cattle, sheep and goat meat since there was increasing scientific evidence that BSE could trigger the spread of an epidemic on the local cattle industry and could cause debilatating and dreadful Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease when ingested by humans.

Other countries like Japan, South Korea, and the US had similar import bans.

Meanwhile, the Philippines continues to maintain its ban on beef products from Japan and several European countries when the mad cow disease plagued these regions in recent years.

Last year, the DA imposed a temporary ban on Japanese beef when mad cow disease corrupted its domestic cattle industry, while the prohibition on the entry of beef products from the UK, Ireland, Belgium, Denmark, France, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland, Italy, Spain and Germany was imposed since November 2000.

Since the country prohibited beef imports from Japan and Europe, it has been increasing its imports from Canada to meet local demand.

In 2002, the Philippines imported 767,222 kilos from 288,695 kilos in 2001. Importation figures for the first quarter of 2003 showed imports reached 474,709 kilos.