The Bush administration on Wed-nesday prepared to argue the case for American beef, under a cloud since the discovery of mad cow disease, before two audiences an ocean apart -- the US Congress and the Japanese government.
US Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman was scheduled to testify before the House of Representatives Agriculture Committee at 2pm, giving lawmakers their first opportunity to quiz the Bush administration on the Dec. 23 discovery of the first American case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
Veneman previewed her testimony during an interview on Wednesday with a North Dakota radio station, saying it was too early to speculate on when foreign countries would begin relaxing their bans on American beef and cattle.
But she said that foreign countries should "at least open up to the least-risk product, boneless beef" from the US.
Veneman also said the Food and Drug Administration would soon announce new restrictions on animal feed, but she gave no details. FDA officials were not available for comment.
Mad cow disease is believed to be spread through feed contaminated with cattle parts. US industry sources have speculated that the FDA might ban the use of cattle blood as a protein supplement for calves.
US agriculture and health officials are in Tokyo this week trying to persuade Japan to relax a ban on American beef that was imposed just after the Dec. 23 finding of mad cow disease in a Holstein slaughtered in Washington state.
They also want Japan and other Asian countries to accept US beef that was already en route in container ships prior to Dec. 23.
Japan normally is the largest foreign buyer of American beef, importing around one-third of the US$3 billion worth of beef sold abroad each year.
A form of mad cow disease has been linked to about 140 human deaths, mostly in Europe, which suffered an outbreak starting in the 1980s.
A House Agriculture Committee aide said Veneman likely will face questions on the USDA's new ban on cattle too sick or injured to stand, or "downer" cattle, and on the agency's slow movement on detailing plans for testing those animals for mad cow disease.
The USDA tightened some of its safeguards against the disease following the discovery of the Washington state case.
All downer cattle -- animals that arrive for slaughter unable to walk -- have been banned from food production. The USDA also has proscribed some cattle parts, including small intestines, from the food chain out of fears they could carry the abnormal protein associated with mad cow disease.
But consumer groups complain that the USDA has been slow to act and that the federal government needs to do more. Some want to shift meat inspections out of the farmer-friendly USDA to an agency that they think would worry less about agriculture industry interests and more about food safety.
Representative Gary Ackerman, a New York Democrat, launched another attempt on Wednesday to ban all downer animals, not just cattle, from the human food chain.
USDA investigators are still searching for several dozen cattle that were the herdmates of the Washington state Holstein cow found infected with the disease.
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