RI plans to ban U.S. beef imports

RI plans to ban U.S. beef imports

INDONESIA: Indonesia will ban imports of American beef and beef products starting from Thursday after the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed a second case of mad cow disease there last week, the Agriculture Ministry said on Wednesday.

Tri Satya Naipospos, the director of animal health at the ministry, said beef product imports approved before June 30 will still be allowed into Indonesia. She said around 500 metric tons of U.S. beef products are currently en route to Indonesia.

Meanwhile, Fred Kessel, agricultural counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, said the U.S. would consider such a ban unjustified in terms of potential health risks.

"I haven't been given a rationale that makes much sense," Kessel said of the ban, adding that Indonesian authorities had not yet officially confirmed it.

The U.S. beef industry is still suffering after international trade curbs were imposed after the its first discovery of mad cow, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, in December 2003. Major importers including Japan and South Korea sealed their borders to U.S. beef fearing damage to their domestic industries and mad cow's human variant, a fatal brain disorder called Creutzfeldt- Jakob disease. -- AP