Fri, 01 Jul 2005

U.S. envoy questions govt's decision on beef import ban

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The United States has questioned the government's decision to ban the import of U.S. beef and beef products after the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed a second case of mad cow disease last week.

U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia Lynn B. Pascoe said at the presidential office on Thursday that he did not think the decision to impose the ban was rational it was made on the basis of just one scientific finding.

He went on to say that the single finding would not bother the American people much as they would continue to consume beef.

"But it is the right of the government of Indonesia to make the decision and decide what they want to do," he quickly added.

In Pascoe's words, one odd cow had been tested because it looked strange and it was eventually killed and destroyed, meaning it did not get into the food chain.

Following the latest confirmed case of mad cow disease, Indonesia's Ministry of Agriculture said the country would impose a ban on U.S. beef imports starting on Thursday.

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

However, Fred Kessel, agricultural counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, said as quoted by Associated Press, the U.S. considers 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 the Indonesian authorities had not yet officially confirmed it.

The U.S. beef industry is still suffering after international trade curbs were imposed after the first discovery of mad cow disease, 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.

Indonesia also banned the import of U.S. beef in 2003 but lifted it in May 2004. Since then, Indonesia has imported 4,300 tons of beef products from the U.S., including the estimated 500 tons that are being shipped, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.

Industry players had commented that the ban on U.S. beef imports would not have a significant impact on national demand, as it was supported mostly by national output.

The country supplied about 70 percent to 80 percent of beef from local production, which stood at an estimated 380,060 tons last year, according to ministry data.

Meanwhile, the remaining shortage was traditionally met with imports from only three countries, the U.S., New Zealand and Australia. Half of the imports came from Australia, while New Zealand and the U.S. share the rest almost equally.

Separately, McDonald's Director of Marketing and Communication Dian Supolo, said that the meat used by the restaurant was all imported from New Zealand and Australia.

"We have been importing the meat from the two countries ever since we opened the branch here in 1991," she told The Jakarta Post.

She also said that the restaurant was fully aware of the danger of mad cow disease that has infected American cows and guaranteed that no beef whatsoever cooked at its 108 restaurant outlets across the country originated from the United States.