HK partially relaxes Canadian bone-in beef import suspension

HONG KONG, March 9 -- The Center for Food Safety of Hong Kong (CFS) announced Monday that the processing of applications for bone-in beef import from Canada would resume with immediate effect.

"In view of Canada's implementation of enhanced control measures against Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), also known as mad cow disease, we will partially lift the suspension of imports of Canadian bone-in beef," a CFS spokesman said.

According to the spokesman, only beef rib cuts and other bone- in products from cattle less than 30 months old are allowed to be imported from Canada at the initial stage. Each and every consignment of bone-in beef products must have the CFS's prior written permission and be accompanied by a health certificate.

"We will closely monitor the situation and review our import requirements as and when necessary," he added.

The import of beef from Canada has been temporarily suspended since May 2003, after the detection of a case of BSE in Alberta, Canada. The ban on import of boneless beef from Canada was lifted in November 2004.