FDA Wants to Delay Feed Ban Rule

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has published in the Federal Register a last-minute notice regarding the agency’s intent to postpone its April 27th implementation of the final rule that would enhance the U.S. feed ban to better protect against the spread of bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE. The public has until this Thursday, April 16th, to submit comments on whether the enhanced feed ban should be delayed for 60 days.

Canada’s enhanced feed ban, implemented in July 2007, now protects Canadian consumers against the spread of BSE from Canadian cattle by closing known transmission routes, including cross-contamination and inadvertent feeding of contaminated cattle parts. R-CALF USA charges FDA now plans to delay providing U.S. consumers with the same level of protection afforded Canadian consumers against these same Canadian cattle that are now being imported into the United States.

R-CALF USA the FDA moves is designed to position the U.S. cattle industry between a rock and a hard place. In 2008, nearly 1.6 million Canadian cattle were imported into the United States. A recent USDA risk assessment model predicted the U.S. would import more than 100 BSE-infected cattle from Canada over the next 20 years.