|
USDA Under Secretary J.B. Penn BSE Delegation
Press Conference
January 27, 2004
Seoul, Korea
Dr. Penn: Thank you very much. Thank you all for coming this afternoon. We appreciate the opportunity to be with you today. We wanted to take this opportunity to report to you briefly on the meetings we have concluded with the Ministry of Agriculture officials this afternoon. The overall purpose or objective of our visit to Korea, and some other countries in the region, is to inform and to educate about the recent BSE incident in the United States and the actions we have taken in response to that. As you all know there was one animal that tested positive for BSE in Washington State on the Western Coast of the United States. The investigation revealed that this was a 6-½ year old animal of Canadian origin. And part of our activity is to explain the actions we have taken in response to finding that one BSE animal.
We are in Korea because this is a very large and important market for U.S. beef. This is our third largest export market and sales in 2003 amounted to something on the order of $800 million. We thus feel that it is very important to reassure government officials and to reassure Korean consumers of the safety of U.S. beef. We quite naturally are eager to have that trade resume, but we want to do so in a way that has the regulations based on solid scientific underpinnings.
Now as to our meeting this afternoon with the Minister of Agriculture, I would like to characterize that session as very cordial, cooperative with a very positive tone overall. We used the opportunity to provide the very latest information on the investigation and on the actions that we have subsequently taken. This included some actions that were announced just hours ago by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration concerning livestock feed regulations.
We emphasize that all of our actions and all of the resulting regulations have been firmly grounded on recognized science with the reason being to maximize consumer protection. We also discussed the need to restore consumer confidence, so that beef consumption returns to normal levels; consumption of both domestically produced beef and imported beef. We also noted that the International Review Team that was announced by Secretary Veneman on December 30th is conducting its review and a report is expected in a few days. This team is composed of well-known, widely recognized experts on BSE. The purpose is to provide an objective third party review of our system and of the actions that we have taken to date. As I noted, this team is at work in Washington, D.C. and we would expect to receive their preliminary report within a couple of weeks.
We also extended an invitation for a team of Korean technical experts to visit the United States. We invited this team to review the various actions that I have described, discuss questions with our experts and also to see the new procedures as they have been implemented in the meat processing facilities. The Korean side accepted our invitation and we will discuss the timing and schedule in the next few days. We would hope that this might coincide with the report of the International Review Team so that the findings of the Korean technical team along with the report of the International Team should provide full information for evaluation and upon which to base a decision upon the resumption of trade.
Let me conclude by expressing our appreciation to the government of Korea officials for their cooperation and for the warm welcome they gave to our delegation. As I noted, we highly value this market and, more importantly, we value the long-term trading relationship that we have had with Korea. We look forward to the visit of the technical team and to further consultations on this important issue.
Before we turn to questions, let me just again reiterate who is sitting with me at the table today. Dr. Charles Lambert, as he was introduced, is the Deputy Undersecretary of Marketing and Regulatory Program area. This is the area that has the responsibility for animal health; this is the area that has the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. On my right is Ms. Ellen Terpstra, the Administrator of the Foreign Agricultural Service. That is the agency that has primary responsibility for market development and international trading activities.
We will now try to respond to your questions and I made these introductions because if you have really difficult questions, I will refer them to my colleagues, and I'll keep all the easy ones to myself. Thank you.
Questions ----
AP: In your meeting today with the South Korean Minister, I would just like to ask if you asked or urged the South Korean Government to lift the ban and, second, you explained to the South Korean officials about the latest expanded safety measures. Do you feel the measures are enough or sufficient for countries, including South Korea, to lift the ban?
Dr. Penn: Both Korean government officials and ourselves are very eager for a return to normal trading patterns. We did not directly request a lifting of the ban. We were trying to explore steps that would be required so that trade could resume, but at the same time with restoration of a high level of consumer confidence. As to your second question, the answer is “yes.” We feel that we have taken more than sufficient measures for trade to resume. We believe that we are now exceeding all of the guidelines that are issued by the World Animal Health Organization concerning what a country that has an incident of BSE must do to satisfy its trading partners. Quite simply, before we found this one animal, which turns out to be of Canadian origin, we were a “BSE-presumptive free” country in the United States. Since finding this one animal, we have taken these several extraordinary measures, which further enhance and strengthen what was already a robust food safety system. All of these measures fully meet and, in most cases, exceed the international guidelines for trade to resume and, thus, we are making our case that trade should resume and it is based on solid, scientific principals.
Joong Ang Daily: First, you said that you met with the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, when the meeting was taking place did you discuss specifically when imports will resume? Secondly, you said that that the government officials of Korea have been positive and cooperative in their response. Do you interpret this as a change on their part?
Dr. Penn: The response to your first question is “no,” we did not discuss specific timing as to when imports might resume. Our major purpose was to make sure the officials understood the science basis of the actions we have taken.
With respect to the second part of your question, the government of Korea officials have always been positive and cooperative with us in respect to this issue. My impression is that they want to see a rapid solution found to this present difficulty. Consider that in the most recent year, U.S. beef imports accounted for about 50 percent of total beef consumption in Korea. Given the world meat demand and supply situation at the current time, it is highly unlikely that other suppliers will be able to fill the gap left by the absence of U.S. beef supplies.
So, I think we share a common objective with the Korean officials; that is to find a rapid solution to this problem but one that is based in sound science and one that will give consumers the maximum reassurance that their beef supply is safe.
MBM News: Just out of curiosity, how did U.S. consumption do after this incidence?
Dr. Penn: Well, I am pleased to be able to tell you that consumer reaction to the reported BSE incidence in the United States has been very, very positive. Consumption of beef in the United States has not dropped at all, not one bit. A recent survey showed that 96 percent of all Americans have heard of BSE and 90 percent of those American said they have confidence in the safety of the U.S. beef supply and, thus, are continuing to consume it. And I can also report to you, we were in Japan late last week; our inquiries there revealed that Japanese consumers have not shifted away from U.S. beef at all either.
Citizen's Newsletter: Two questions. The first delegation from the U.S. in fact also said that U.S. beef is safe, but they failed to show evidence or objective records that would show that the beef is indeed safe. So rather than just saying it is safe, could you please present some evidence that would convince us further. Second question, regardless of what the Korean Government may decide, the consumers of Korea and environmental organizations may still be opposed to the resumption of the imports because they have poor credibility, they do not trust in the safety of U.S. beef. How would convince those people?
Dr. Penn: First of all, let me say that my colleague Dr. Lambert was one of the people here on the first delegation that came to Korea within just a few days of reporting finding the one cow. And the purpose of his visit was to inform Korean officials about the incident and to tell what we were doing about it, and to do so in a first-hand manner. The objective of that mission was not to present records to convince anyone of anything, but to fully inform and explain to our trading partners what was transpiring.
Part of our purpose now is to present that evidence, to show consumers that U.S. beef is safe. And that is why I have repeatedly referred throughout my remarks to sound science or to scientific principles. Because we want to show that what we have done is to reduce the probability to the lowest level possible that any harm could come to consumers from eating U.S. beef. You suggested that we should present evidence to convince consumers of that and I think we have done a very thorough job in explaining the actions we have taken and how those actions serve directly to eliminate any potential danger.
And also to make sure that this information that we are presenting is objective, not biased, we have invited the technical team, a Korean technical team, to come to the United States to see first-hand and to evaluate directly all of the things that we have done. That is evidence number one.
And, the second bit of evidence that I would refer you to is the international technical review team, which is composed of world-renowned experts who are widely respected as being objective scientists in their field. They are thoroughly evaluating our entire livestock and meat system and will present their findings in about two weeks time. Now, I invite you, as members of the media with the responsibility to your public, to read and to review and to evaluate these independent, objective reports and give the results to your public. I think if you do that, you'll find that the U.S. beef product is among the safest food stuffs in the world and I think that will help give confidence to Korean consumers that they can again return to consuming beef; both U.S. beef and domestically produced beef.
NHK: What was the response of the Korean side of such explanation that you presented and how do you evaluate such response from the Korean side?
Dr. Penn: Well, as I have explained already, the Korean side listened very carefully to what we had to say, indicated that measures needed to be taken in general to reassure the consuming public and agreed to send a technical team to the United States to again review the actions that we have taken, assess first-hand how they improve food safety and, also, to review the implementation of these procedures in our food processing facilities.
APTV: Probably you answered the question, but I would like to ask one more. You said South Korea officials were eager to resume the trade with the United States. When did they say it is possible to lift the ban or resume trade? When do you expect South Korea will lift the ban?
Dr. Penn: We discussed with the officials the BSE incident and both sides recognize that this is a problem for both of us. It is a problem in the sense that U.S. exports have been stopped, but also it is a problem for the Korean side in that the supply of beef has suddenly been disrupted. The adverse economic impacts are severe both for the American side and for the Korean side. It is because of this that I noted that it is my impression that both sides want to find a quick resolution to this situation. And, again, we did not talk about specific dates for lifting the ban but rather we talked about a process by which more information is developed and evaluated.
Nippon TV: You mentioned that both the Korean side and the American side discussed the steps required to go back to the normal state. Were both sides in agreement on all the requirements that are needed to go back or were there specific disagreements that you would like to note?
Dr. Penn: There were no specific disagreements in the sense that one side insists on this and the other side rejects that. We talked more generally about the information that needed to be developed, needed to be explained to the consuming public, to reassure consumers that beef is safe, and then we can move down the pathway to the resumption of trade.
Chosun Ilbo: You said earlier that the international inspection team's report and the Korean team's or visiting team's report might coincide; the timing of the release of the report may coincide. So when do you expect the Korean team's report to come out and do you also expect that, based on the results of the report, the ban on imports will be lifted?
Dr. Penn: I think what I said was that it would be advantageous from my point of view if the timing of the Korean technical team could coincide with the issuance of the report by the international review team. I also noted that the timing of the visit of the Korean technical team has not been set and that is a matter that has yet to be discussed. I also noted that these would be two important bodies of information which could then be evaluated and I think serve as a very solid basis upon which to take a position about the resumption of trade.
YTN: Are you satisfied generally of the results of this trip and, if you are indeed satisfied, what specifically are you satisfied about?
Dr. Penn: I am satisfied. As I indicated, this is a process by which information must be presented, officials must review and evaluate this information, information must be presented to the media, to the public, and consumers must receive and evaluate information. This is a process that takes some time. It is not a process where you can flip a switch and suddenly resume trade. It is a process; it is one which is very deliberate. We are very pleased with the reception we got and I believe we are making progress along the process.
Hanguk Ilbo Daily: We heard reportedly that you delivered a message from Secretary Veneman when you met the Korean officials today. If possible could you tell us what the message contained?
Dr. Penn: Well, the message that I delivered was simply extending greetings and courtesy. There was no other more specific message. Secretary Veneman is, of course, very interested in this process. We are here at her instruction and she would be very eager to have us move the process along much as I have described.
I also did extend an invitation from Secretary Veneman to the Minister to visit the United States at his convenience. We would welcome seeing him in Washington, D.C.
(Unknown): I have three questions. First, you said that you want resumption of imports. Do you mean to say you want resumption on all beef products or just muscle meat? Second, you talk about the U.S. taking measures that go beyond the requirements of OIE. Could you please be more specific about these measures? Thirdly, I am not sure if you know this, but Korea imported 830 live cattle from the U.S. and they are being bred in South Cholla province right now, but they were found to have Bluetongue and, added to that, the BSE problem broke out. So isn't it natural for people to doubt the safety of U.S. livestock?
Dr. Penn: Let me respond to the first two of your questions and then I'll ask my colleague Dr. Lambert, who is the animal specialist, to respond to the other one. We would like to see a resumption of trade as quickly as possible. We would be very pleased to begin that trade with specific products; the muscle meat products that you mentioned would be a good candidate. That is the way we handled the situation with Canada when we began reopening the border to Canada after its find of an animal in May 2003.
With respect to your second question about measures we have taken. The measures that are required by the OIE depend upon the status of a country that has had an incidence of BSE. The status is laid out in categories from high risk to lower risk down to risk free. The measures that are required, thus, depend on the category. I earlier mentioned that the United States is in a provisionally free category. I can give you one example of the actions we have taken exceeding the requirements. This example relates to our surveillance system, our testing of BSE in the national livestock herd. We have tested over 20,000 animals in each of the past two years for the presence of BSE. This amount is forty seven times greater than what is required to meet the minimal standard of the OIE. I will now ask my colleague Dr. Lambert to respond to the third question.
Dr. Lambert: Regarding the load of cattle that was shipped from the United States to Korea to be fed-out for marketing or for slaughter. The disease in question, Bluetongue, is not a factor in human health nor does it affect the health of cattle or the performance of cattle. It is only of concern as it might affect the domestic sheep population, the breeding sheep population, but it has absolutely nothing to do with herd health, the performance of cattle, and it has nothing to do with BSE.
Dr. Penn: Thank you all very much. We appreciate the opportunity.
##
|
