U.S. beef exports continue to rise

Now that the BSE scare (jocularly called Mad Cow Disease) is largely behind us, the U.S. is slowly rising from the floor and exporting more beef to countries that can afford to import it, like Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Mexico and Canada.

There still are too many ridiculous restrictions in place to allow the U.S. to get the export tonnage up to Pre-BSE levels, but its coming up month by month. What is particularly ludicrous is that U.S. beef is the purest, most wholesome, most heavily tested, of any beef on earth.

No other nation has controlled and stamped out BSE like the U.S. has. Japan, South Korea and Canada all have double digit cases of BSE, while the U.S., with many more cattle, has only two. TWO. These countries ought to import more of the U.S. product, because its safer than what they produce themselves. The import restrictions on U.S. beef are way more stringent than what they have put on their own beef.

The restrictions are aimmed at protecting their own local cattlemen from competition, and to kick sand in the face of the big United States because they can. Economic protectionism and not scientific fact is what's guiding import restrictions.

It's time for scientific fact and realism to overtake the beef trade, and put the safe, wholesome U.S. beef back to its rightful, earned and deserved place in the world beef and cattle trade.