An investigation has been called for to look into why Canadian beef thought to be banned was allowed into the United States.

The inspector general of the U.S. Department of Agriculture agreed to the investigation late Thursday afternoon.

U.S. Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., and two other Democratic senators asked Phyllis Fong, the inspector general, for an investigation last month. She sent them a letter that said, "We will review the USDA’s actions pertaining to the importation of Canadian beef products, including the use of risk mitigation measures following the department’s regulatory action and policy announcement of Aug. 8, 2003 . . . We will conduct interviews of USDA officials and review relevant agency records as part of this inquiry."

In May 2003, after two Canadian-born cows were found to have mad cow disease, the USDA placed a ban on all imports from Canada. In August, USDA began allowing the importation of meat considered a low-risk for mad cow disease, including boneless beef, liver and veal.

Later last fall, the USDA stopped requiring the brains and spinal cords to be removed from animals slaughtered in Canada before being shipped to the United States. It also stopped requiring animals destined for import to be slaughtered in separate facilities.

Daschle said some 33 million pounds of banned Canadian beef have been allowed into the country. A dozen special permits were given to 10 meatpackers that allowed importation, he said. The permits were not made public.

Fong’s announcement that there will be an investigation is good news, Daschle said.

"It is simply unfair that certain meatpackers and the Canadians had private knowledge about special permits granted under reduced food safety standards while the American public was kept in the dark," Daschle said in a press release.

Sen. Mark Dayton, D-Minn., and Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, were the others who called for an inspection.

Rep. Stephanie Herseth and Sen. Tim Johnson, both D-S.D., have also questioned why the Canadian beef was allowed into the United States.

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Reid Cherlin

(202) 224-0224

Inspector General Agrees to Daschle Call

for Canadian Beef Investigation

WASHINGTON, DC - The Inspector General at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has agreed to an investigation request made by Senator Tom Daschle and two other members of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Tom Harkin of Iowa and Mark Dayton of Minnesota. In a letter Daschle received late Thursday, Inspector General Phyllis Fong confirmed that her office would pursue a probe into the senators’ concerns that the Bush Administration’s Agriculture Department "...did not follow appropriate safety measures sometime in the fall of 2003, in allowing expanded Canadian beef imports into the United States.

"I’m pleased that the Inspector General will look into this matter," Daschle said, "It is simply unfair that certain meatpackers and the Canadians had private knowledge about special permits granted under reduced food safety standards while the American public was kept in the dark."

Inspector General Fong, in her letter to Daschle said, "In response to your request, we have initiated several actions. We will review the USDA’s actions pertaining to the importation of Canadian beef products, including its use of risk mitigation measures, following the Department’s regulatory action and policy announcement of August 8, 2003." The letter also stated that, "We will conduct interviews of USDA officials and review relevant agency records as part of this inquiry."

Daschle, who raised the issue of the Inspector General investigation with Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman last week urged Veneman to "embrace the investigation in order to build confidence in our food safety and border protection policies."

"Government accountability is the first step in making a genuine effort to improve our handling of these critical food safety and border protection issues," Daschle explained.

When the senators called for the investigation on April 24, they did so in an effort to determine why, after the discovery of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or Mad Cow Disease, in Canadian cattle, Bush Administration officials relaxed food safety standards on imported, high-risk beef products. The Administration took these steps without informing Congress or the public.

In their letter to Inspector General Fong, the senators demanded to know why USDA disregarded two important food safety standards - one requiring that brain and spinal tissue of U.S.-bound Canadian beef be removed before shipping to the U.S., and another stipulating that the beef must be processed in facilities that are used only for the slaughter of animals eligible for export to the U.S.

"These dramatic policy changes created a risk of cross-contamination in these facilities and increased the possibility that BSE could be introduced into the United States with these imports," the senators wrote.