03/01/05 Assessment of Canadian feed ban

American Rancher March 1, 2005 A new report from a team of U.S. experts looking at the compliance of the ruminant-to-ruminant feed ban in Canada has one basic conclusion. Johanns: "There is good compliance with the feed ban in Canada." Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns who says the report found good compliance by feed mills and rendering facilities in Canada and that officials there are trying to make the compliance even better. Johanns: "The issues that they have found to date generally related to record keeping, that sort of thing. Probably important to point out here to in terms of the U.S. feed ban and the Canadian feed ban, those were not recalls. If you had feed in the bin or if you were a retailer of feed, you could sell that out or feed that out. And that probably occurred for some period of time after the effective date in both countries." Which USDA says might explain the most recent BSE case in Canada in a cow born after the feed ban went into effect. Johanns says there is nothing in that compliance report that should delay the scheduled March 7th partial opening of the U.S. border to Canadian cattle and beef. Doctor Ron DeHaven, Administrator of USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service says the assessment confirms the department's science-based decision to begin lifting the ban on live ruminants and ruminant products from Canada that have virtually no risk to human or animal health. I'm Bob Hoff.