OIE Decision Leaves Many Shaking Their Heads
US - The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) recently voted to classify the United States as a “controlled risk” country in regards to Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE).
11 June 2007
1 minute read
At first glance you'd think that was a good thing, and it may be, but when you take a closer look it leaves many people shaking their heads and wondering how the OIE came up with this classification. And perhaps a bigger question is why the U.S. Department of Agriculture didn't fight for a more favorable classification.
Initially, the “controlled risk” classification looks good.
The National Cattlemen's Beef Association, for example, was pleased with the vote and expects this OIE classification “to trigger the lifting of long-standing political barriers to our products in various international markets” which began when BSE was first detected in the U.S. in 2003.
We share that hope and feel as NCBA does that the U.S. has “taken progressive steps to eradicate BSE for almost two decades, and our extensive testing proves these steps have worked,” and further, that the U.S. has a “concrete system of science-based firewalls that ensures the BSE agent does not enter the food or animal feed supply.”
Source: Bismarck Farm & Ranch Guide
