U.S. questions beef import ban

U.S. questions 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.