Colombia’s ban on U.S. beef from states where dairy cattle had been affected by the H5N1 virus has been lifted.
The trade ban, which had been in place since April, and was a controversial one, as U.S. industry officials said it had no scientific basis and that no beef herds had been affected. Colombia was the only country to have imposed such restrictions.
U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) President and CEO Dan Halstrom issued the following statement concerning the matter:
“On behalf of USMEF’s membership, I want to thank the U.S. government, and especially the teams at the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) and Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) involved in the effort to restore full access for U.S. beef shipments to Colombia. The USDA staff posted in Bogota, in particular, worked tirelessly to get these restrictions lifted. We are also grateful to Colombian importers and customers who remained loyal to U.S. beef during this difficult time and who voiced their concerns to the Colombian government about the interruption in trade.
“It is also important to note that effective USDA engagement with other trading partners helped prevent similar trade barriers from affecting additional export markets. While Colombia was the only destination to officially restrict imports of U.S. beef as a result of H5N1 findings in dairy cows, the impact on beef exports was substantial. Prior to the restrictions imposed in April, Colombia was a promising market averaging about $3 million per month in U.S. beef purchases. In July – the most recent month for which data is available – exports fell to less than $850,000. We look forward to rebuilding U.S. beef’s presence in the Colombian market and meeting the needs of our valued customers.”
Prior to the ban, according to USMEF, the U.S. was Colombia’s largest supplier of imported beef.
The ban did not include beef from states that had confirmed cases of H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in poultry, unless those states also had instances of the virus in dairy cattle.
To date, the following states have had confirmed cases of H5N1 in dairy cattle: Texas, Kansas, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio, Idaho, South Dakota, North Carolina, Colorado, Wyoming, Minnesota, Iowa, Oklahoma and California.
