Suspect beef enters U.S. over ruling

WASHINGTON – The Agriculture Department allowed Canada to import 42,000 pounds of questionable meat into the United States despite restrictions in place since the discovery of mad cow disease in Canada, department investigators said Wednesday.

The investigation resulted from a federal judge’s ruling last April preventing the department from expanding Canadian beef imports.

The agency’s inspector general faulted agriculture officials for allowing more kinds of Canadian meat products into the United States before the judge’s ruling. Such “permit creep” let in products that were at greater risk for the disease, the report said.

“There was reduced assurance that Canadian beef entering the United States was low-risk,” the inspector general found. “Some product with questionable eligibility, as described above, entered U.S. commerce.”

Agriculture officials are planning to allow imports of live cattle under 30 months of age beginning March 7, despite the discovery of two new cases of mad cow disease last month.

Mad cow disease, the common name for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, is thought to pose less of a risk to younger animals. A form of BSE, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, can infect humans who eat contaminated meat.

The cattlemen’s group that won last year’s ruling said the report bolstered its case. The group is suing again to block the expansion of trade with Canada.