01/11/08 Import problems

The old saying is "misery loves company." I see where the United States cattle industry has some company with similar problems as ours. I'm Jeff Keane; I'll tell you about it right after this. The United States cattle and beef industry has been having some problems getting our beef products exported into Southeast Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea. Now Brazil is seeing some tighter restrictions placed on beef exports to the European Union. In November, EU's Food and Veter Office found discrepancies in holding registrations, animal ID and movement control of Brazilian cattle slated for export to the European Union. New EU regulations come about after many warnings to Brazil and their failure to take measures to correct the problems. To protect animal health in the EU the European Commission states Brazilian beef imports may only come from approved processors meeting EU requirements, must be from cattle kept in one of the EU approved territories for at least 90 days and at least 40 days prior to slaughter. Any cattle arriving from non-EU authorized territories will cause another 90-day wait for all cattle in that approved territory. Also, all cattle will be required to be ID'd and registered in the national ID system. The new regulations will become effective January 31, 2008. While this Brazilian problem doesn't help our United States beef export issues, it might be a good time to push for more U.S. beef imported into the European Union. I'm Jeff Keane.