US mad cow scare may benefit NZ

By MARTIN JOHNSTON and AGENCIES


New Zealand beef producers could reap increased exports to Asia in the wake of the mad cow disease scare in the United States, farmers predict.

But there are also fears of a temporary downturn in the US - the destination for nearly 60 per cent of New Zealand's $1.6 billion-a-year export beef market - as consumers turn off beef.

US authorities have quarantined the Washington state farm where the holstein dairy cow suspected of having the disease came from.

Tissue samples taken when it was slaughtered, on December 9, tested positive for the brain-wasting disease. They have been sent to Britain for confirmation and results may be available by tomorrow.

Eating beef contaminated with the disease, called bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), is thought to be the cause of the fatal human brain disorder, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD).

More than 130 people, mostly in Britain, have died from vCJD.

Many countries, including Australia and Japan, responded swiftly to the US disclosure by imposing bans on US beef imports, but the New Zealand Food Safety Authority said a ban was unnecessary.

Federated Farmers meat and fibre chairman Ian Corney said yesterday that the clampdown on US beef by several Asian countries could prove a windfall for beef farmers in New Zealand, which remains free of BSE.

"There certainly will be an opportunity there. I wouldn't expect it will be a bonanza. It will be an opportunity we will be able to capitalise on. We don't like capitalising on other people's misfortune, but that's what makes the world go round."

Consumers might also switch from eating beef to lamb, he said.

Meat Industry Association chief executive Caryll Shailer said it was too soon to predict the long-term effects of the suspected case on Asian beef markets.

Based on what had happened in other countries, she expected US demand for beef would drop.

"But as confidence was restored in measures taken, that returned to fairly normal levels. You get a temporary blip."

Australian beef exporters are also eyeing the Asian possibilities.

"If America is excluded from Asia - the main market for their exports - if we were able to replace some of those exports, that could be a windfall for Australia," Richard Rains, head of one of Australia's biggest beef exporters, Sanger, told ABC radio.

The Food Safety Authority said New Zealand had no bans on imports of beef or beef products because it assessed BSE risks scientifically.

Its director, Andrew McKenzie, criticised the overseas bans as "a huge overreaction to the real risk".

New Zealand imported only small quantities of US beef, including beef jerky and in biscuits containing gelatin, he said.

They were not made from the central nervous system tissue where the BSE infective agents were found.

The US Agriculture Department said the central nervous system tissue from the suspect cow had not entered the food chain. Those tissues were removed from the cow and sent for rendering.

Reuters reports that the US cattle industry, whose beef exports totalled US$3.2 billion ($4.94 billion) last year, has long feared a BSE outbreak.

Neighbouring Canada had an outbreak in May.

Europe, whose herds were devastated by BSE in the 1990s, says it is not considering tightening protective measures already in place on US beef for years.

Value of beef

* New Zealand's export beef market worth about $1.6 billion in the past year.

* United States, the biggest buyer, took nearly 60 per cent.

* Canada - 12 per cent.

* South Korea, Taiwan, Japan - about 5 per cent each.