JAN 03

The National Agricultural Health and Food Safety Committee has placed a temporary ban on the importation of beef and beef products from the United States.

The Committee, comprising representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Health and the Environment, Customs and Excise Department, Grenada Ports Authority, Grenada Bureau of Standards and the Grenada Food and Nutrition Council, took the decision on Tuesday.

A government release said that consideration was given to the need to safeguard Grenadian consumers against beef products, in view of the presence in the U.S. of Mad Cow Disease, known as Bovine Spongiform Encehpalophty (BSE).

Head of the Agricultural Health and Food Safety Committee, Chief Veterinarian, Dr. Bowen Louison, said Mad Cow Disease is degenerative, affecting the brain and spinal cord of cattle. If persons eat the infected beef, they would contract a similar disease called Creutzfeldt-Jakob's Disease (CJD). Dr. Bowen said there is no evidence that Mad Cow Disease is transmitted through milk or milk products.

Precaution, according to Dr. Louison, must be taken due to the difficulty in detecting the disease. In activating the ban, Customs and Excise Officers are watching for beef products processed in the United States.

Dr. Louison said the ban is temporary, pending more information from the American authorities. Other Caribbean countries that have implemented a ban on U.S beef products include Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Antigua and Barbuda and Barbados.