Word: usda
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...customs crackdown was part of the USDA's effort to keep the U.S. free of a decidedly unwelcome international visitor: foot-and-mouth disease. Last month the explosively infectious livestock illness began breaking out on farms around Britain. Last week more cases traced to the British infection turned up across the Channel in France. When that happened, the already beleaguered European meat market took another hit: the USDA banned the importation of meat and meat products from the 15-nation European Union (E.U.). Other countries, including Australia and Canada, soon did the same. The U.S. and Canadian bans alone could...
...Atlantic, who want their meat products on the shelves but would like them free of pathogens, thank you, are generally in favor of whatever it takes to keep the disease in check. "Because this virus spreads very fast, and because of its grave consequences," says Alfonzo Torres, a USDA deputy administrator, "it's one of the livestock diseases we dread most...
...There are some concerns that because of the way trade moves so freely within the E.U., suspect animals could be out there, even in countries where no clinical symptoms have manifested yet," USDA spokesman Jerry Redding told TIME.com. The USDA insists there is no need for undue concern among European nations concerned about their future as exporters. "This ban is temporary," Redding says. "We're going to see what develops, and if the disease doesn't pop up in new countries, we'll restructure...
...Foot-and-mouth isn't so much a health or safety threat - it's an economic threat. Farmers and governments alike are concerned about losing livestock that provide valuable milk and meat products. The USDA estimates an outbreak of foot-and-mouth in the U.S. - where the disease has not occurred since 1929 - could cost billions...
...disease (although cows that merely ate elk meat did not). Last week advisers to the FDA took up the question of whether deer, closely related to elk, might pose a danger to venison eaters. "We have to be vigilant," says Linda Detwiler, coordinator of BSE surveillance for the USDA...