U.S. won’t suspend Cdn. beef imports over atypical BSE

Jan 18, 2022

China, South Korea and the Philippines already have

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

Canada’s largest beef export customer won’t be adding its name to a list of countries that have suspended imports.

The United States won’t close its borders to Canadian beef despite the confirmation of an atypical case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) on an Alberta farm in December, a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) spokesperson said.

“Atypical BSE does not pose a risk to other cattle,” Mike Stepien said, BNN Bloomberg reported. “The OIE (The World Organization for Animal Health) does not consider atypical cases of BSE to affect a country’s official BSE risk status recognition, as atypical BSE is believed to occur spontaneously in all cattle populations at a very low rate and does not pose a risk to other cattle.”

“Therefore, the United States does not restrict imports based on atypical cases of BSE.”

Of the 62 countries Canada exports beef to, the United States accounts for almost three-quarters of all exports.

About 72 per cent of Canadian beef exports go to the U.S., the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association says.

By November 2021, Canada had exported more than $3 billion of beef to the U.S. That number was up from $2.23 billion in November 2020.

Three countries have already suspended imports of Canadian beef because of the atypical BSE case.

The first to do so was South Korea.

The $90 million market for Canadian beef and seventh largest market by volume, suspended its imports in December.

In early January, China, a $200 million market and Canada’s third largest, followed South Korea’s lead. As did the Philippines.

Officials from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency provided representatives in those three countries with additional information to prove Canadian beef is safe.

“A few trading partners have asked Canada for additional information about the atypical BSE case and have either temporarily suspended imports from Canada or requested that Canada not certify exports for their market pending review of that information," Patrick Girard, a spokesperson for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, told Farms.com in an emailed statement.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.