Beef export rules changed

PARIS - The world animal health body OIE says it has agreed new guidelines on beef exports and mad cow disease.

It will sett up a three-category risk system for countries and make de-boned red meat freely traded under certain conditions.

" A classification will depend on the risk in each country," OIE Director General Bernard Vallat told a press conference at the Paris-based group's annual assembly.

"There is a list of products that present no risks. That now includes skeletal muscle meat under certain conditions." The addition of deboned red meat from cattle under 30 months to the OIE's freely traded list means countries can export the product whatever their mad cow, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), status.

Vallat said the three country categories, replacing the current five-tier system, would be known as "negligible risk", "controlled risk" and "undetermined risk".

The OIE said it had clearly defined what could be classed as skeletal muscle meat for free trade. Apart from the under-30-month rule and deboning, animals had to have undergone ante- and post-mortem inspections and measures must be in place to ensure no contamination with other riskier animal parts.

The added restrictions on red meat trading followed concerns expressed by some countries, including Japan, over fully liberating deboned beef trade. Japan currently bans US beef over mad cow disease concerns.

OIE guidelines, which come into immediate effect, are non-binding on its 167 members, but are often used by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) for settling cross border trading disputes involving animal health issues.

- REUTERS