PHL won’t ban US beef on initial report of mad cow infection

Despite reports of mad cow infection in a farm in the US West Coast’s California, the Philippines is not imposing a ban on the importation of US beef.   "The situation is not an outbreak. The incident is a case that is far from creating another mad cow havoc in the US or elsewhere. We issued an advisory to the consuming public that US cattle beef is still safe for human consumption," Agriculture Assistant Secretary for Livestock Dr. Davinio Catbagan said in an interview with reporters Thursday.   Catbagan said the infected animal in California has been isolated and "is now for destruction in a rendering plant."   The Department of Agriculture said that the international animal health office, Office International des Epizooties, has not yet published warnings that would otherwise advise countries not to import beef from the US.   "As per the guidelines of the OIE, banning importation from controlled BSE-risk country such as the US is not necessary because the meat are free from specified risk materials and are safe for human consumption," said Catbagan in his report to Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala.   Catbagan said that the beef that enters the Philippines are free from specified risk materials that can potentially harbor mad cow disease.   Mad cow, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), is a fatal disease that affects cattle and causes degeneration of the brain and spinal cord. The disease can be transmitted to humans by eating beef from infected cattle.   Specified risk materials that can harbor agents of mad cow are the brain, skull, eyes, trigeminal ganglia, spinal cord, vertebral columns, dorsal root ganglia, tonsils and distant ileum of the small intestines of a cattle.   The Philippines imports beef primarily from Australia, but also angus beef and frozen rib eye from the US. The US is fourth on our list of beef suppliers. Out of 16 million metric tons imported beef in 2011, the US supplied slightly over 3 million MT to the Philippines.   Meanwhile, the Department of Agriculture lifted the six-year ban on poultry and other poultry products including semen for breeding from Austria.   According to the Bureau of Animal Industry, the Philippines lifted that ban after a confirmation from OIE that Austria is now free from the deadly highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), or the bird flu virus.   The Department of Agriculture imposed the ban on March 1, 2006 after Vienna confirmed the outbreak to the World Animal Health office.   Austria is not a major source of poultry, but the ban was imposed because travelers might bring pet birds and poultry products from Vienna. —AE/VS, GMA News