MANHATTAN, Kan. – The U.S. Department of Agriculture has taken numerous steps to ensure the safety of the nation’s meat supply in the face of livestock diseases in other parts of the world, but ideas have surfaced among some groups that the United States should halt all imports of meat, meat products, and live animals.

"From the U.S. beef industry’s perspective, there are several problems with this proposal," said Kansas State University agricultural economist James Mintert. "First, the U.S. has long argued that trade barriers related to health should be well-grounded in the science of health and food safety. Most scientists believe the current set of safeguards put in place by USDA are adequate, as long as they are enforced properly.

"Second, a careful analysis of our principal beef and cattle suppliers indicates the risk of ‘importing’ disease is extremely low. Three countries – Australia, Canada, and New Zealand – provide the bulk of U.S. beef imports [87 percent], and two countries, Canada and Mexico, provide 100 percent of our live cattle imports."

None of those countries currently has foot-and-mouth disease, Mintert noted, and all have safeguards in place to ensure the disease stays outside their borders. For that reason, there appears to be no sound science-based reason to halt imports of either beef or live cattle from those countries.

"Halting all imports in response to the current disease crisis in the European Union, from which the U.S. has already halted all imports, would, in effect be a repudiation of the long-standing U.S. policy of encouraging other countries to rely on scientific evidence when establishing health-related trade rules," said Mintert, a livestock marketing specialist with K-State Research and Extension. "If the U.S. abandons science in this arena now, it risks losing some of the gains already made and, importantly, it will be difficult to negotiate further reductions in trade barriers."

Livestock groups have worked long and hard to increase sales of their products overseas in recent years. And to a large extent, the efforts have paid off.

"The U.S. is a net exporter of beef and beef by-products, when measured in dollar terms, and our net exports have grown rapidly in recent years. In the long run, reducing trade restrictions in meat and meat by-products has clearly benefitted the U.S. beef sector," the economist said.

Mintert noted that export prospects for the beef sector look bright as incomes around the world improve. Studies have shown that when incomes improve, consumers tend to shift toward more meat-based diets and away from grain-based diets.

"But imposing arbitrary restrictions on meat and live animal trade could hurt the ability of the U.S. to increase its share of expanding world trade in beef," Mintert added.