European beef returns to Canada

Saturday, January 9, 2016

Canada is allowing European beef back into the country, the BBC reports. According to a release from the European Commission in Brussels, Canada has agreed to re-open its market to European beef, marking the end of a ban that has lasted 19 years.

The embargo started in 1996 after a European outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (better known as mad cow disease), which causes a fatal neurodegenerative disease in humans who become infected. This reversal of the ban comes at a great time for European farmers, who have been dealing with poor export prospects as a result of the Russian embargo and a decrease in demand from China.

Europe accepts a few hundred thousand tonnes of beef raised without use of  hormones, says the Canadian Cattlemen's Association's John Masswohl. He hopes that a recent trade deal will knock down the high tariff. BF