ACIL believes strongly that private sector food testing laboratories have the capability to be of service to industry and government for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) testing
The American Council of Independent Laboratories (ACIL) announces the release of a position paper on Unfair Government Competition in BSE Testing.
ACIL believes strongly that private sector food testing laboratories have the capability to be of service to industry and government for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) testing and should be provided the opportunity to do so. However, they are being excluded from this opportunity.
US beef exports to about 40 countries, most prominently Japan and South Korea, have been halted, negotiations between trade representatives of the United States and these countries have not produced a solution, and US beef producers are being hurt economically through reduced sales and forced layoffs.
At the center of this problem is the question of testing for BSE infected cattle.
For example, Japan requires mandatory testing of 100% of all cattle slaughtered for sale in Japan while the USDA plans to test only a targeted group of animals.
A few producers have volunteered to take on the testing role themselves or work through capable third party laboratories and test all of their cattle.
USDA has indicated that they might be willing to staff USDA-operated on-site laboratories if the producers are willing to pay for this service.
However, USDA is only identifying state and university laboratories to perform this testing.
There is no known intent to include competent commercial laboratories in the solution of this problem.
This is a clear example of unfair competition.
