APHIS AFFIRMS IMPORT RESTRICTIONS ON MEAN FROM CZECH REPUBLIC
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has finalized rules to include the Czech Republic on its list of regions where bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or deadly “mad cow” disease,” exists in native-born animals.
APHIS imposed an interim rule against imported meat from the Czech Republic on June 8, 2001, because the country posed “an undue risk of introducing bovine spongiform encephalopathy into the United States.”
Comments on the interim rule were requested by the agency and were due by Feb. 4. “We did not receive any comments. Therefore, for the reasons given in the interim rule, we are adopting the interim rule as a final rule,” APHIS said.