Cattlemen Group, USDA Reach Deal on Beef

[CHIMO]

Under the agreement, USDA will not permit expanded imports of beef products beyond those announced last August until it has completed a rulemaking process now under way, officials said.


Bill Bullard, chief executive officer of R-CALF, the group that brought the lawsuit, said Wednesday the agreement was a ``huge victory'' for both U.S. consumers and the cattle industry.

USDA is creating rules on easing restrictions on beef and live animal imports from Canada, and will add the products cited in the lawsuit to the list of items to consider.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4058321,00.html?=ticker

[bemildred]

1. Why the hell is the USDA making "deals" with "Cattlemen's groups?"

They are supposed to REGULATE them in the PUBLIC interest.

[evworldeditor]

2. What I can't figure out is why the FDA. won't...

let cattlemen or meat packers who want to test all their cattle for mad cow disease do so at their own expense. Heck, I'd like to know if the meat I eat is infected or not. Yet, the FDA forbade at least one firm that sells beef to Japan from testing all of its cattle to reassure its concerned customers in Japan. Another firm has asked for a similar waiver, but I've not yet heard how that ruling went.

[CHIMO]

3. Probably Will

Come. In Alberta the two major packing companies (US)are buying low and selling below market in the US and putting other US packers out of business.
The small cattle producers in Alberta are starting to have there own plants and will do what the Asian market wants. They have no more US market.
Once this happens the US will have to compete, to enter into what was once a major market for them.
Will take a year or two but it will come to pass.