Reading Time: 2 minutes Federal officials tracing out the herdmates of Canada’s 19th domestic case of BSE expect to have their final report on the case ready in late fall. Confirmed Feb. 11 as Canada’s first domestic case of the brain-wasting bovine disease since 2011, Case 19 was born in 2009 on the same northern Alberta farm as Case […] Read more
BSE case’s traceout continues
OIE cuts six European countries’ BSE risk level
Reading Time: 2 minutes Paris | Reuters — The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) has lowered to the safest level the official risk of six countries for BSE, a move expected to open international market access for their beef exports. These countries are France, Ireland, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Cyprus and Liechtenstein. OIE members in Paris last week eased […] Read more
China lifts three-year embargo on Brazil beef imports
Reading Time: < 1 minute Brasilia | Reuters — China has ended an embargo on Brazilian beef imports, Brazil’s agriculture ministry said on Tuesday, lifting a three-year old ban and opening the door to half a billion dollars of new sales. Eight Brazilian beef processing plants and one poultry plant were approved to ship to China, the ministry said in […] Read more
U.S. seen approving Brazil fresh beef imports
Reading Time: 2 minutes Sao Paulo | Reuters –– Brazil’s agriculture ministry said on Friday the U.S. is likely to approve imports of Brazilian fresh beef this year, after President Dilma Rousseff visits Washington in June. Brazil, the world’s top beef exporter, is already a steady exporter of cooked beef that appears in items such as canned corned beef […] Read more
Canadian beef again moving to China
Reading Time: < 1 minute Federal inspectors are again issuing certificates for exports of Canadian beef to China, as Beijing’s temporary ban on the Canadian product comes to an end. The Chinese government in late February announced a temporary ban on imports of Canadian beef, shortly after Canada confirmed its first case of BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) in a domestic […] Read more
The direct option for marketing ethical beef
At first, direct marketing gave Dylan and Colleen Biggs hope to save the farm. Now it’s driving robust expansion
Reading Time: 7 minutes They told me I would fail,” says Colleen Biggs, remembering the phone call she made soon after taking over sales and marketing on the home ranch. It was 1995, and with no room to cut costs any deeper, she had called the Alberta Ag Ministry to find out more about direct marketing, thinking their way […] Read more
China to block Canadian beef as BSE probe continues
Reading Time: 2 minutes China has set up “temporary trade restrictions” on Canadian beef and beef products in the wake of Canada’s first case of BSE in a domestic cow since 2011, federal officials report. Born in 2009 and confirmed with BSE Feb. 11, the latest case — Canada’s 19th since its first such finding in 2003 — has […] Read more
Canada says only three per cent of beef trade hurt by ban
Reading Time: < 1 minute Ottawa | Reuters — Markets that have closed their borders to Canadian beef after a case of mad cow disease was discovered account for just three per cent of Canadian trade, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said Tuesday. South Korea, Taiwan, Peru and Belarus have imposed trade restrictions on Canadian beef and beef products after Canada […] Read more
Peru, Taiwan, Belarus ban Canadian beef over BSE case
Reading Time: < 1 minute Reuters — Three more countries have blocked imports of Canadian beef or beef products, following Canada’s discovery of BSE earlier this month, its first in four years. Taiwan, Peru and Belarus have imposed trade restrictions on beef and/or beef products, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said on Monday in an update on its website. The […] Read more
Ireland says China agrees to lift ban on Irish beef
Reading Time: < 1 minute Dublin | Reuters –– China has agreed to lift its ban on Irish beef, Ireland’s Prime Minister Enda Kenny said Friday, making it the only European country to be allowed to export beef to both the U.S. and China. Ireland last month became the first European Union country to regain access to the lucrative U.S. […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
