MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina bans European beef .

Fearing the spread of BSE, "mad cow" disease, and following the steps of Australia, New Zealand and Brazil, Argentina has banned the import from Europe of "high risk" products such as beef, lamb, mutton, goat meat and any byproducts containing any of these ingredients. The sanitary resolution effective Wednesday January 17th., empowers Argentine health authorities to inspect supermarkets, stores, outlets, warehouses and proceed to confiscate all of the banned products. "According to the International Epizooties Office we're among the four, five countries in the world with less risk of contracting BSE, so it was only natural that Argentina ban the introduction of these high risk products", said Argentine Agriculture Secretary, Alejandro Berhongaray. But since Argentina is primarily an exporter of beef and lamb, --an annual 600 million US dollars business--, most banned products belong to the fancy, sophisticated food or "delicatessen" category. The Argentine ban resolution does not include pork, poultry nor meat from other animals, but recommends monitoring "low risk" products such as milk derivates, mainly cheese and powder milk, plus cookies and chocolates. Once the ban became public, Argentine officials recommended consumers to check imported food labels and read carefully the ingredients, making sure they do not contain bovine derivates. Authorities also anticipated that since European Union scientists are inclined to believe there could be a potential link between BSE and milk derivates, Argentina is drafting a resolution that will also ban products with milk powder such as baby food and ice cream. In the European Union the current "mad cow" disease outbreak is considered more severe than in 1996 and extending to more countries. Germany has just announced it will proceed to sacrifice 400.000 head of cattle "possibly" contaminated with BSE.

"Scrapie" outbreak in Brazil

Brazilian veterinary officials confirmed that an outbreak of "scrapie" has been detected in a flock of sheep in the Southern state of Paraná. Scrapie which attacks mainly sheep generating trembling fits is believed to be among the network of diseases possibly related to BSE, or "mad cow" disease. <