Australia, New Zealand ban European beef

Australia, New Zealand ban European beef
ASSOCIATED PRESS

CANBERRA, JAN 5: Australia and New Zealand will ban all beef imports from Europe to protect consumers from the human variant of mad cow disease, the federal government said today. The ban, which takes effect from Monday, affects all beef goods from 30 European countries including Belgium, Denmark, France and Germany.

It was not immediately clear how much beef Australia and New Zealand import from Europe, but Australia has a large domestic beef industry and imports little of the meat. The move came as the Australia New Zealand Food Authority(ANZFA) announced other steps to safeguard the food supply against effects of the deadly brain wasting disease Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the human form of mad cow disease.

‘‘We have written to major retail organizations asking them to identify beef products from Europe and to remove them from shelves as soon as possible as a precaution,’’ Lindenmayer said.