WASHINGTON, Oct. 12, 2016 - China is once again saying it’s willing
to
lift its ban on U.S. beef, but American officials are taking a wait and see
attitude, noting that the world’s largest country made the pledge a decade ago
and never followed through.
U.S. government and industry officials, however, acknowledge
the environment is different now. China’s beef demand has grown and the U.S. is
in the final stages of allowing the importation of Chinese chicken, resolving a
longstanding contentious issue between the two countries. Still, as one former USDA official said, the
devil may be in the details.
As of now, USDA officials tell Agri-Pulse, China has not officially divulged any of its regulatory
demands for importing U.S. beef, which the Asian nation, and much of the rest
of the world, banned after the U.S. discovered its first case of bovine
spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in 2003.
“They haven’t given us any protocols,” said one USDA
official who asked not to be named because of the delicate nature of the ongoing
negotiations. “We’re looking at nothing.”
Another USDA official said the Chinese recently wrapped up
an inspection of U.S. beef production and said “the audit seemed to go OK,” adding,
“We’re still waiting to see what they tell us and that’s where we are right
now.”
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack welcomed
China’s announcement last month that the country was ready to begin importing
U.S. beef after a 13-year ban. But China made a similar announcement back in
2006. That declaration touched off rounds of negotiations, with John Clifford,
USDA’s chief veterinarian at the time and the point man on all things BSE,
being dispatched to Beijing to try to work out the details. Clifford and
others, including then Farm and Foreign Agriculture Service Under Secretary
J.B. Penn had been traveling regularly to Asia since the BSE discovery, working
out deals to resume imports with Hong Kong, Taiwan and others, but not China.
The U.S. soon learned China was agreeing to only allow
imports of boneless beef cuts under a bevy of restrictive terms, and the George
W. Bush administration rejected the overture.
Mike Johanns, then the U.S. agriculture secretary, said at
the time that China should be opening its market to all U.S. beef products, in
accordance with the international standards established by the (World
Organization for Animal Health). “We will not be satisfied until a full range
of U.S. beef products are once again accepted into the Chinese market," he
said.
USDA officials at the time complained that to adhere to the
complex Chinese demands, the Agricultural Marketing Service would have had to
create a whole new Beef Export Verification program with special guidelines.
This time around, Vilsack called the Chinese announcement “a
critical first step to restore market access for U.S. beef and beef products,”
but he also stressed that success would hinge on “further technical discussions
on the specific conditions that will allow trade to resume.”
One good sign, a USDA official said, is that Chinese
auditors mentioned that the country is willing this time to accept imports of
bone-in cuts of beef.
Chase Adams, a spokesman for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association,
said it was too early for celebration. “Our thought is, let’s see what the
details are,” he said.
There are other reasons for optimism, several USDA officials
said. First, the World Organization for Animal Health announced
in 2013 that it was placing the U.S. into the “negligible,” or
lowest risk category, for BSE. Back in 2006 when China first lifted its beef
ban the U.S. fell into the higher “controlled” risk category.
Perhaps even more significant, USDA is in the final stage of
clearing China to ship its chicken to the U.S. There has never been any
official communication from China that the country wants its chicken cleared
before it allows in U.S. beef, but government and industry officials have said
for years that they suspected that was the case.
“I don’t think anyone thinks China is doing this out of the
goodness of their heart, but poultry has certainly been their latest sticking
point,” Adams said.
A team of FSIS auditors traveled to China last year to
inspect and evaluate the country’s ability to safely slaughter poultry and came
back with good news. In March, FSIS informed
China that the country had passed the audit and said FSIS will
“recommend moving forward with the rulemaking process for poultry slaughter
system equivalence and the issuance of a proposed rule.” A USDA official said
the department is on track to publish that proposed rule before the end of the
year.
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