Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is concerned about the testing and reports of animal diseases in Brazil. In an open letter to Brazil’s Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply, Carlos Favaro, he says the world’s two largest livestock-producing nations have a joint responsibility to protect livestock health.
Vilsack expressed concern about Brazil’s testing for bovine spongiform encephalopathy. To address the issue, he proposed a call among the countries to continue discussing the issue. “When we opened our market to fresh beef from Brazil in 2016, we did so after thorough and careful reviews of Brazil’s animal health infrastructure, disease status and food safety system,” says the secretary at the letter from him “For the United States, continued confidence in Brazil’s animal disease surveillance, testing and reporting systems is paramount to our ongoing business relationship.”
This is not the first time US officials have questioned Brazil’s beef safety processes. In February, US Senators Mike Rounds and Jon Tester reintroduced a bill that would temporarily suspend imports of Brazilian beef. It would also create a USDA task force to assess the threat from Brazilian beef products and make recommendations on the future of that nation’s beef imports. That bill is currently being considered by the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry.
Also in February, the National Association of Beef Ranchers called for an immediate halt to imports of Brazilian beef following another atypical BSE case. In his letter, Vilsack thanked Brazil for reporting confirmed test results within 24 hours, which is consistent with World Organization for Animal Health reporting standards. However, he says the time between initial screening sampling and full test results is still far behind the timelines of other major beef exporters. This time frame limits the ability of nations to enact control measures to combat mad cow disease, foot-and-mouth disease, and other outbreaks.
“It is for this reason that I urge Brazil, in the strongest terms, to continue its progress in simplifying the timely notification of animal diseases,” Vilsack continued in his letter. “Specifically, I am asking you to review your internal testing processes, consider concurrent rather than consecutive testing strategies for highly suspect samples, and further reduce the total time between sampling and testing.”
2023-08-13 14:09:53
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