IRELAND COULD be exporting beef to the United States next year for the first time since an EU-wide ban was imposed in 1997 because of the BSE crisis.
Ireland, the UK and the Netherlands have been cited by the US department of agriculture as the three member states that meet all other health requirements and could begin to export beef to the US sooner than other EU members if and when the ban is lifted.
A draft regulation was published in Washington last week, allowing for 60 days of public consultation on the proposal, although no date was set for the market’s reopening to EU beef.
The move by Washington is aimed at bringing its rules on bovine imports into line with the World Organisation for Animal Health standards on BSE.
The publication of the proposed regulation came just days ahead of the vote this week at the European parliament in Strasbourg on a commission proposal to allow the US export up to 40,000 tonnes of hormone-free beef to the EU.
These latest proposals are part of efforts to end a row described by agriculture sources as “tit for tat” over the ban on US hormone-treated beef and the longstanding BSE ban on EU beef.
Irish Farmers’ Association president John Bryan welcomed the moves by the US and called for a “major diplomatic and political push at national and EU level” to reopen the US market to Irish beef. He said Irish beef could gain a foothold in the largest market in the world with the US importing a million tonnes of beef annually, most of which comes from Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Cattle in the US are cereal fed and the IFA believes there will be a particular interest in Irish beef in states such as California.
Mr Bryan travels to Strasbourg tomorrow to meet senior commission officials and MEPs ahead of the controversial vote to allow US beef imports to the EU.
Ireland East MEP Mairéad McGuinness gave a cautious welcome to the development in Washington. “It may be some time before EU beef enters the US market, possibly 2013, if there are no legal obstacles in the USA to this draft rule”, she said. But it was “an important first step”.
She believed MEPs were likely to support the proposal to increase the quota of US beef into the EU. “For those of us with reservations, the announcement of the ‘draft law’ provides some comfort that our concerns about market access to the US are being addressed.”
Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney described the US move as “a very important first step in a process which I believe will ultimately provide a tremendous opportunity for high quality, grass-fed Irish beef,” he said.
Northern Ireland Agriculture Minister Michelle O’Neill also welcomed the draft law. She said the US BSE ban had been in place far too long and the North’s beef industry had proven itself “robust”.
