B.C.’s Minister of Agriculture, Pat Bell says he is very disappointed with the U.S. Agriculture Department’s decision to skuttle plans to resume imports of older cattle and beef from older animals.

The U.S. says its backing off because of recent discoveries of cows with BSE ( mad cow disease ) in Canada. There have been seven such cows discovered in Canada, four of the cases were discovered this year.

Pat Bell says this is all about protectionism, not about quality of the beef “Whether its softwood lumber, beef or grain, the United States has become more protectionist. They have to understand that kind of stance will hurt their economy long before it will hurt ours. We will look for other trading partners who are offering truly free and open markets.”

Bell says the decision will impact on two smaller sectors of the beef industry, namely the replacement heifer sector (animals raised in Canada for milking in the U.S.) and cull animals, which are older cows that would have been shipped to the States for hamburger.

Bell says the Ministry of Agriculture will continue to co-operate with the U.S. on testing to show we are committed to resolving the BSE issue. “The fact is, we have been increasing the number of animals being tested, while the Americans have been decreasing their testing, so that should tell you the Americans are not serious about solving the BSE problem.”

Bell says this decision has increased his resolve to develop increased trading with the Asian and European markets. “Either the Americans want to be our trading partner, or they don’t want to be our trading partner, and this decision demonstrates they do not want to be our trading partner.”