Thailand bans U.S. beef imports

[Guest]

ABC News did a story last night about the mad cow scare with a quick scroll of export markets that have banned U.S. beef as a result. Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia were in the list. Wonder how this'll affect high-end restaurants that were importing beef. There were only a handful of places in Bangkok where I liked the beef and I suspect it was all imported (certainly priced that way). They'll probably turn to Australia and New Zealand to fill in the gap. Interesting that the U.S. beef producers are calling on countries to rescind their bans now that they've traced the tainted cow's birth to Canada. What they'll probably get instead is a ban for a few months on both U.S. and Canadian beef.

[Redbaron]

I would have though it would have been more economically viable (cheaper) to import Aus/NZ beef compared to the US anyway. The quality is similar (all good), and labour would be less, as well as from a ligistical point of view. Also Argentine if that's an option would be cheaper again (going by labour costs alone and assuming all imports have similar, if any, tariffs on them).

[Guest]

Afair, Japan was first (just a few hours after the news were published). A big market for the US (still remembering UK during the European Mad Cow disease crises) where nobody was eating anything that contains beef (even some sorts of sweets).

[whosyourdaddy]

Frig. the NEw York SteakHouse at the JW Marriot will double in price now. Only 8000B a meal.

[elef]

Hi WYD,

 

"Frig. the NEw York SteakHouse at the JW Marriot will double in price now. Only 8000B a meal."

 

Free life insurance included or not?

 

 

elef

[elef]

http://www.organicconsumers.org/madcow.htm

[Guest]

Yes, Japan is a big market for the U.S., but this would never hurt the U.S. like Canada was hurt 7 months ago. More than 90 percent of American beef is consumed domestically, whereas Canada exports more than 60 percent of its production. I've read that American domestic consumption has largely ignored the BSE scare of last week...for now. The good thing is that the U.S. has in place a system whereby Canadian cattle are separated from American herds; that's because Japan has demanded, and the U.S. promised to comply, that NO Canadian beef in any way, shape, or form enter Japan in American shipments.

[..]

"The good thing is that the U.S. has in place a system whereby Canadian cattle are separated from American herds"

 

That is sarcasm isn't it? IMHO, it's all horribly convenient? "The cow is quarrantined" to "the brain & spinal cord were discarded" to "the cow came from Canada."

 

After this Iraq fiasco, I have a really hard time believing ANYTHING that the current US Gummint says.

 

Read "Fast Food Nation" for a scary look at US agro-biz and tell me I am paranoid...

 

And what idiot decided that hebivores can become carnivores? Basic biology/physiology says that this is wrong on so many levels.

 

Cheers,

SD

[elef]

Hi,

 

"Canadian authorities found a maze of connections during their investigation into the Alberta case. The animal changed hands frequently. Without knowing the exact source of contaminated feed, investigators had no way to know where else the disease might spread. The discovery of the infected Holstein in Washington state offers a clue -- and a warning: The industrialization of farming, the vast number of cattle on the move across borders, and the scale of dairy, feeding and slaughter operations means that a local problem can spread widely.

 

Serious discrepancies still dog the investigation: The tag number from the infected Holstein matched Canadian export records, but those records also show the animal was born in April 1997; U.S. farm records had indicated the Holstein was born around 1999. Even more troubling, Canadian records show the cow had two calves before it was shipped across the border; U.S. records show the Holstein was a heifer, an animal that had not yet borne calves.

 

Brian Evans, the chief veterinary officer with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, said yesterday that officials were trying to track down the two calves the Holstein is recorded to have given birth to in Canada. If those can be matched with DNA from tissue samples taken from the Holstein before it was slaughtered -- or from two living calves that it bore at Mabton -- Evans said, investigators would have a way "to make sure we are talking about the same animal."

 

But he added that it is premature to conclude that the diseased cow was Canadian. "As yet, there is no definitive evidence that the BSE-infected cow originated in Canada," he said at a news conference.

 

DeHaven said the DNA testing may take a week. Further complicating the sleuthing operation, Canadian records do not show the Holstein was born in Alberta. Investigators believe the Holstein was infected shortly after she was born, and need to find the birth herd to determine which other animals might have become infected. The birth herd of the Canadian cow with mad cow disease in May was eventually traced to Saskatchewan.

 

"What we have is a match to an ear tag that was recovered from the animal at slaughter and records in Canada with that same ear tag number," DeHaven said. "That would suggest the animal came to the U.S. from this herd in Alberta, Canada, but we have not been able to absolutely determine that the herd in Canada was the birth herd.""

 

http://www.organicconsumers.org/madcow/dispute122803.cfm

[Guest]

No, no sarcasm. I stand by what I wrote.