MAD COW DISEASE

US to scale back mad cow surveillance program

The United States Agriculture Department will announce on Thursday plans to scale back its mad cow surveillance program, a source briefed by the department told Reuters. The USDA is "lowering it to reflect the low level of BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) in the United States," the source said. "It is lower, but keep in mind it will still be testing at a level 10 times higher than" international recommended standards. The enhanced program, which was to run for 12 to 18 months, has tested more than 759,000 animals -- far more than initially planned -- and was responsible for finding two of the three cases of the brain-wasting cattle ailment in the United States. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said in April that mad cow disease hits fewer than one in 1 million U.S. adult cattle, giving the United States a low occurrence of the disease which is likely to decline. But U.S. consumer groups have urged the government to continue its enhanced testing program for mad cow disease, saying any move to end or dramatically curb the program would send the wrong message to Americans and U.S. beef importers....

US Still Expected To Accept Over 30 Months Canadian Cattle

A Canadian cattle official said the recent demands of a U.S. cattle producing group should not affect changes to a proposed U.S. rule on whether to accept Canadian cattle over 30 months of age. He also noted that the rule is now out of the hands of the USDA. R-CALF United Stockgrowers of America responded to news of Canada's latest bovine spongifrom encephalopathy (BSE) case by stating that the USDA should indefinitely postpone plans to revise its ban on older Canadian cattle. "Their only venue is through the courts and so far they've been defeated at every court challenge that they've been involved in," said Rob McNabb, assistant general manager of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association (CCA). He said R-CALF previously lost two court appeals in relation to the first revisions to the ban in 2004. "The court system has recognized the USDA has both the authority and the competency to deal with this." He said the USDA has yet to make an official statement on revising the rule, as it is currently in the hands of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. McNabb said the latest the CCA heard from the USDA was when it announced in a release July 13 that a USDA expert will be sent to Canada to participate in the investigation of the case. "We welcome the fact that they're going to send someone up to participate and see things first hand," he said....

Australian Cattle Traceback Helps In Japan

A mandatory cattle traceback system will help underpin demand for Australian beef in Japan when it lifts import bans on U.S. product, Malcolm Foster, President of the Australian Lotfeeders' Association, said Tuesday. Foster said he looks forward to the return of U.S. beef to Japan as it will moderate market volatility, increase supply of beef, reduce prices and in due course help expand the market. Australia's National livestock Identification System has "set the benchmark" in Japan, its biggest beef export market, and other things being equal is a significant factor in supporting purchases overseas of Australian beef, he said. "We're an exporting nation, we've got to keep our systems going, keep ahead of the game and keep coming up with new ideas and reasons why our product is superior," Foster said in an interview with Dow Jones Newswires. "It's the greatest thing we ever did," he said of traceback, which was introduced across Australia in July 2005, and enables individual animals to be tracked from property of birth to slaughter for food safety, product integrity and market access purposes....