THE Federal Government says the detection of a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in Canada last month had nothing to do with its decision to toughen up quarantine requirements for beef imports.
The Government last week bowed to public pressure and ordered a two-year import risk analysis be applied to all beef imports from countries which have had BSE, instead of just a previously announced risk assessment, to ease public concerns about food safety following the easing of restrictions on such beef.
The Government's announcement came just days ahead of the public confirmation that the 17th case of BSE had been found in Canada.
That BSE case had been kept under wraps for about two weeks after it was found in late February, and made public through the media last week.
The Canadian Government has since notified the World Trade Organisation of the outbreak.
The detection is not believed to have affected trade, but will delay Canada's upgrade to "controlled risk" status to the WTO.
The case was detected through Canada's voluntary national disease surveillance program.
The last case of BSE was found in May last year, while in 2008 there were four cases detected, three cases in 2007 and five cases in 2006, and nearly all have been found in the Alberta region.
Because of its age the cow would have been eligible for export to the United States for domestic slaughter, according to American cattleman's lobby, R-CALF.
Minister for Trade, Simon Crean, told Canberra journalists this week that while this detection may have added to the "fear campaign" being run to try and change the decision, it was not the reason the Government changed its position and implemented the IRA.
"I think the fear campaign worked," Mr Crean said.
"I still very firmly believe that the protocols that we had in place were absolutely capable of ensuring that this country did not import any BSE-affected product.
"I've got no doubt that (Canadian) case could have added to the fear campaign, but it did not itself affect the Government's decision."
Mr Crean said the case identified in Canada happened in the same area in which they had had a case before and was not a different type of BSE.
"It was able to be located and disposed of, so they're tracing traceability system worked, and the truth is we don't import from Canada now because of the previous ban, nor had there been an application to import from Canada since the decision that was previously taken was announced."
Mr Crean said there has been no formal complaint lodged by any of the countries, or the regions, which may have wished to send beef to Australia under the changed rules.
"There have been, there have been queries, and there have been representations made by the US, the EU, Canada - informal representations - essentially seeking further information. And we are dealing with those."
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