The US Cattlemen's Association (USCA) is urging USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to enhance inspections of beef imported from Mexico, citing concerns over the potential use of the growth promoter clenbuterol.
The group pointed to reports of an outbreak of illness affecting 54 people across Mexico linked to meat contaminated with clenbuterol. It also pointed to a 2019 study that found clenbuterol residues in excess of Codex Alimentarius maximum limits in 52 of 106 samples of beef muscle and liver purchased from vendors in the city of Cuernavaca.
“USCA strongly recommends increased inspection protocols of all beef and cattle imported from Mexico until such a time when confidence can be restored in Mexican beef product,” USCA President Brooke Miller wrote in the September 8 letter to APHIS and FSIS administrators. “We ask that APHIS and FSIS seriously evaluate the public health risks associated with importing beef and meat from Mexico, including conducting an equivalence verification to ensure that Mexico is still maintaining a regulatory food safety inspection system that is on par with the United States'.”
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