Asia-bound U.S. beef containers in limbo

Asia-bound U.S. beef containers in limbo    The release of refrigerated containers containing U.S. beef already headed for Asia remains uncertain.
   According to a Dec. 30 report in The Washington Post, the United States’ exporters of beef to Asia, primarily Swift & Co., Tyson Foods and National Beef Packing Co., had about 2,200 containers on the water before many countries started banning the products Dec. 23. It’s uncertain whether Asian countries, such as Japan, will allow the pre-ban containers to enter or turn them back to the United States, the newspaper reported.
   Many Asian countries established the bans in response to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s recent announcement of a cow in Washington state found to be infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy, better known as “mad cow” disease. The brain-wasting disease may be transmitted to humans that consume infected beef.
   USDA officials said they’re fairly certain the cow was infected in Canada before importation to the United States and affirmed that the country’s herd is safe for consumption.
   “By any stretch of the imagination the U.S. cannot be considered to be at high risk for BSE, especially given our high level of surveillance over the recent past and the fact that only one case has been found here,” said USDA chief veterinarian Ron DeHaven in a statement Dec. 29.
   “International reaction to our find of this positive case has been based largely on public perception and not what we know about the science of this disease,” he added.