The European Union (EU) has met the commitments in a 2009 agreement with the U.S. on imports of hormone-free beef, an EU official said in a statement. The push back was in reaction to U.S. officials saying U.S. beef had been denied EU market access despite the U.S.-EU Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on High-Quality Beef, which is beef raised without growth-stimulating hormones. “The EU has fully complied, both in the letter and in spirit, with the Memorandum of Understanding signed with the United States in 2009, establishing a hormone-free beef quota,” the EU official said in response to Dec. 22 statements by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.“The termination of this agreement and the possible application of duties on EU exports to the U.S. would certainly constitute a most unfortunate step backward in the strong EU-U.S. trade relations,” the EU official said, adding that the EU will continue to implement the memorandum of understanding and stands ready to listen to any concerns of the U.S. administration.USTR said that non-U.S. exporters of high quality beef products have been able to fill “a substantial part” of the EU's 45,000 metric ton duty-free quota. While the quota is not reserved for the U.S., the cuts of meat specified in the MOU correspond with grain-fed beef. Reports note that the EU is allowing Argentine and Australian producers of grass-fed beef to fill the quota with their high-quality beef products. In practice, USTR said in the notice, the quota has not provided enough “benefits to the U.S. beef industry sufficient to compensate for the economic harm resulting from the EU ban on all but specially produced U.S. beef.”As for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) implications, the EU official said, "Changing the EU's ban on hormone-treated beef was never part of the negotiations with the United States for a trade agreement." Both sides have signaled the TTIP talks will not culminate in the near future. USTR said in its December 22 statement that the European Commission “had argued that this issue should be resolved through TTIP.”Antibiotics Sales for Use in US Farm Animals Rose in 2015: FDA
U.S. sales and distribution of antibiotics approved for use in food-producing animals increased 1% from 2014 to 2015, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said in an annual report. An estimated 70% of antibiotics used to fight human infections and to ensure the safety of surgery and other invasive procedures are sold in the U.S. for use in meat production. In 2015, sales and distribution of those medically important antibiotics for food production rose 2%, the FDA said.Medically important antimicrobials accounted for 62% of the domestic sales of all antimicrobials approved for use in farm animals in 2015. Tetracyclines accounted for 71% of such sales, FDA said, noting the data also include drugs approved for therapeutic purposes."The more we use them anywhere, the less effective they become," said Dr. David Wallinga, a physician and senior health officer at the Natural Resources Defense Council.Some food outlets have switched to serving chicken raised without antibiotics important to human health. Some investors are pushing McDonald's and other major food companies to do the same for all of the meat they produce, purchase or serve around the world.
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