Source: Tom Johnston, MEATINGPLACE, 5/14/14
 

U.S. exporters can now ship beef to Mexico under new rules that remove cattle age restrictions related to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and expand access to that market.

USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service late Monday updated its official Export Library, the final step that allows shipments of beef from cattle older than 30 months of age.

Product must derive from cattle slaughter after May 28, 2013, the date on which the World Organization for Animal Health upgraded to negligible the United States’ BSE risk status.

The Mexican government decided late last month to lift all restrictions remaining from an original outright ban placed on imports of U.S. beef after the discovery of America’s first case of BSE on Dec. 24, 2003.

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