ND Department of Agriculture Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE JUNE 4, 2008

JOHNSON URGES USDA TO ALLOW MORE STRINGENT BEEF TESTING

BISMARCK – Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson has asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture to let U.S. meat processors test their products above and beyond federal standards.

“It should be the role of government to set minimum testing standards but to always allow companies to exceed those standards,” Johnson said in a letter to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer. “I urge you to demonstrate our good will to consumers by authorizing U.S. processors to voluntarily implement testing protocols that meet or exceed market requirements.”

Johnson made the request after South Korea delayed resumption of U.S. beef imports. South Korea has been largely closed to U.S. beef since 2003 over fears of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). Earlier this year, the South Korean government lifted the ban, but massive public protests and demonstrations caused the government to maintain the ban indefinitely.

“In 2004, our beef producers lost market share in Japan for the same reason; they considered our BSE testing to be inadequate,” Johnson told Schafer. “At that time, Creekstone Farms Premium Beef of Arkansas City, KS, requested USDA authority to perform 100 percent testing of its beef to meet Japan’s requirement for U.S. beef importations.”

Johnson asked Schafer’s two immediate predecessors, Mike Johanns and Ann Veneman to allow Creekstone to conduct its testing in order to enter the Japanese market, but USDA refused, citing “a negligible benefit from a public health standpoint,”

Johnson said he has no doubt that U.S. beef is the safest in the world.

“What really matters is what consumers believe and want,” he said. “If processors are able and willing to exceed testing standards to meet customer demands, they should be allowed to do so.  Regaining the full confidence of our foreign markets must begin by providing them with products that satisfy their requirements; not ours.”

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MEDIA: For more information, please call Ted Quanrud at (701) 328-2233 or tquanrud@nd.gov or Patrice Lahlum at (701) 239-7210 or plahlum@nd.gov.