TheBeefSite Newsletter - 4 July 2012

TheBeefSite Weekly Newsletter

Wednesday 4th July 2012

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Welcome to this week's newsletter

Editorial: World Trade Organisation Rules on US COOL Laws

On Friday, the World Trade Organisation Appellate Body delivered its settlement on the dispute between Canada and Mexico and the US over its Country of Origin Labelling measures.

The WTO body found that the US has been discriminating against Canada and Mexico by putting unnecessary obstacles in the way of trade in pork and beef.

However, the finding also ruled that the COOL regulations are a legitimate tool to inform consumers of the origins of the products they are buying.

The decision has been welcomed by all sides as the US Trade Representative Ron Kirk said: "We are pleased with today's ruling, which affirmed the United States' right to adopt labeling requirements that provide information to American consumers about the meat they buy."

While the Canadian International Trade Parliamentary Secretary Gerald Keddy said: "We are very pleased with today's decision.

"We will continue to engage with our US partners to ensure trade can move more freely and benefit producers and processors on both sides of the border."

Canadian Meat Council President Ray Price said: “The Canadian and US beef and pork production and processing sectors are critical components of an integrated North American red meat industry that provides a broad selection of high quality, safe and nutritious food products to consumers both at home and in other countries.

"The imposition of bureaucratic, costly and unnecessary obstacles that make no contribution to food safety and are of little or no benefit to consumers jeopardises North American competitiveness in the global marketplace and weakens economic growth, investment and job opportunities on farms and in meat processing facilities across Canada and the United States.

"Now that the WTO Appellate Body has announced its decision, we expect the United States to quickly bring its meat labelling regulations and practices into full conformity with international obligations.”

National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) Vice President Bob McCan said: “The World Trade Organisation has been extremely clear that mandatory Country of Origin Labeling is a clear WTO violation. This most recent decision is very similar to the initial ruling made more than seven months ago. Instead of working diligently to bring the United States into WTO compliance, we wasted three months and taxpayer dollars on an appeal process. This did nothing more than jeopardise our strong trade relationship with Canada and Mexico, the two largest importers of US beef. The Obama Administration prolonged an issue that could have been resolved quickly. In the US, the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is to step up its residue testing in meat.

Later this summer, the Department will launch a new approach to its testing to protect the public from exposure to harmful levels of chemical residues in meat, poultry, and egg products.

"The new testing methods will help protect consumers from illegal drug residues in meat products," USDA Under Secretary for Food Safety Dr Elisabeth Hagen said.

In Thailand last week, FAO and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) joined forces to combat foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) on a global scale, laying out a detailed strategy to bring the devastating livestock disease under control.

The two organisations underlined that only solid commitments from global partners will make the strategy possible, as they opened an international meeting in Bangkok supported by the Thai Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives.

FAO is emphasising the need for collective action to better control FMD where it is a high burden to millions of farmers, pastoralists and commercial operators.

Chris Harris

This Week's Feature Articles

We have 5 new features this week:

Maintaining Competitiveness with Today's High Grain Prices
The availability of cheap feed grain for many years influenced the structure of the beef cattle industry and the types of production systems used in very fundamental ways. These impacts are only just now being truly recognised as the industry struggles to adapt to an economic environment that appears to have fundamentally changed and the changes appear to be permanent, writes Derrell S. Peel, Professor of Agribusiness and Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist at Oklahoma State University.

Know your Cattle, Grid Conditions
Commodity cattle are priced by weight class, sex or average carcass grade, but some are worth a lot more or less.

European Meat Processing Industry Slowly Evolving
Over the last number of years, some of the major European meat processors were at a crossroads in terms of the direction their business was heading with the majority having no operations outside their domestic country, writes Peter Duggan, Strategic Information Services, Bord Bia-Irish Food Board.

Prevention of Contaminations with Clostridia in Silages Using Inoculants
Clostridia are endospore-forming anaerobic Gram-positive bacteria which ferment carbohydrates, lactic acid (LA), as well as amino acids and proteins, thus causing problems such as reduction in feeding value and the production of biogenic amines (McDonald, 1981;Oude Elferink et al., 1999).

Anaplasmosis in Iowa
In 2010 there was an increased number of cases of Anaplasmosis from submissions to the Iowa State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (ISU-VDL). Although the disease is not enzootic in Iowa it is observed regularly. Environmental conditions in 2010 may have enhanced the spread of anaplasmosis within the state, writes Dr Grant Dewell, Iowa State University Beef Veterinarian.

Market Reports

» USDA Agricultural Prices - June 2012
» USDA GAIN: Agricultural Biotechnology - Germany Annual

Company News

MSD Presents Results of Vaccine Against Schmallenberg Virus
NETHERLANDS - MSD Animal Health (known as Merck Animal Health in the United States and Canada) announces the successful development of a candidate vaccine against the Schmallenberg virus. Immediately after the first cases appeared at the end of 2011, MSD Animal Health started the emergency development program.

Global Beef Cattle Industry News