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THE government has approved the resumption of beef
imports from the United States and Canada, after the Department of
Agriculture released new guidelines lifting the ban caused by the
spread of mad cow disease in those two countries.
In a memorandum, Agriculture
Secretary Arthur C. Yap said that the Philippines has allowed
importation of deboned and deglanded beef sourced from cattle not
older than 30 months from the US and Canada.
“Both countries conduct
verification procedures to ensure that the food-safety plans are
being followed and critical elements necessary to ensure food safety
are being accomplished,” Yap said in his directive.
He added that there is still a
need to prevent the entry of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or
mad cow, into the country.
Yap’s directive authorizes the
importation with the following conditions: the beef whether boneless
or bone-in should be devoid of specified risk materials (SRMs),
should come only from healthy ambulatory and not downer cattle,
should be certified by the US Department of Agriculture as to the
production date or slaughter date, with such information included in
the packaging labels.
 --Chino
S. Leyco
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