The Office of the United States Trade Representative announced it has asked the World Trade Organization to establish a dispute settlement panel regarding the European Union's 12-year-old restrictions on imports of U.S. poultry.

The United States has asked the panel to review whether the EU's ban on importing and marketing poultry meat and poultry meat products processed with pathogen reduction treatments (PRTs) judged safe by U.S. and European food safety authorities is consistent with the EU's WTO obligations.

"The U.S. poultry subject to the EU ban is safe. There is no scientific evidence that the use of pathogen reduction treatments pose any health risk to consumers," said USTR spokeswoman Nefeterius McPherson in a statement.

Requesting a panel is the next step in the formal WTO dispute settlement process. The United States and the EU held consultations on Feb. 11. The WTO Dispute Settlement Body will consider the request at its next meeting, scheduled for Oct. 23.

History

In 1997, the EU began prohibiting the use of PRTs to reduce microbe levels on poultry carcasses sold in the EU, stopping the shipment of virtually all U.S. poultry.

In 2002, the United States formally requested EU approval of four PRTs: chlorine dioxide, acidified sodium chlorite, trisodium phosphate, and peroxyacids, each of which was already approved for use in poultry processing by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

On June 2, 2008, a committee comprised of the chief veterinary officers of the EU member states rejected a heavily conditioned European Commission proposal to approve the four PRTs by a vote of 26-0, with the United Kingdom abstaining.

On Dec.18, 2008, the EU Agricultural and Fisheries Council, which is comprised of the agriculture ministers of the EU member states, voted against the same proposal in an identical tally.

Neither body provided a scientific basis for their respective rejections of the Commission proposal, according to USTR.

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