USDA Bans Argentine Beef

June 4, 2001

USDA is prohibiting the importation of fresh beef from Argentina due to the confirmed presence of foot-and-mouth disease in that country. The department also is prohibiting the importation of all cured or cooked beef from Argentina under the fresh (chilled or frozen) beef regulations. All cured or cooked beef from Argentina intended for importation into the United States must meet the requirements of the regulations regarding cured and cooked meat from regions where FMD exists.

The interim rule is effective retroactively to Feb. 19. On March 12, the Servicio Nacional de Sanidad y Calidad Agroalimentario reported an outbreak of FMD in the province of Buenos Aires. Over the next four days, SENASA confirmed the existence of FMD in the provinces of Cordoba, La Pampa, San Luis, and Santa Fe.

USDA also added the independent principalities of Andorra and Monaco, and the Republic of San Marino to the list of regions that present an undue risk of introducing bovine spongiform encephalopathy into the United States, because their import requirements are less restrictive than those required by the United States and/or because of inadequate surveillance to detect the presence of BSE.

The effect of this action is a restriction on the importation of ruminants that have been in Andorra, Monaco, or San Marino and meat, meat products, and certain other products of ruminants that have been in these regions.