U.S. Senator John Hoeven (R-N.D.), a senior member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Thursday joined Senators John Thune (R-S.D.) and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) in urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to immediately suspend fresh beef imports from Brazil. Thursday's letter comes as Brazil has failed to quickly disclose two cases of atypical bovine spongiform encephalopathy -- a neurological disease of cattle -- which could pose a significant threat to the health and safety of the U.S. cattle herd and food supply.
The letter was also signed by U.S. Senators John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.).
"Cattle producers across the country work hard to produce the highest quality beef in the world," the senators wrote. "This industry should not be jeopardized by Brazilian beef imports that may contaminate U.S. herds and our food supply. We support the requests to suspend Brazilian fresh beef imports until a thorough investigation can be made into Brazil's Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Food Supply food safety review process."
Categories: Minnesota, Livestock, Beef Cattle