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OIG Confirms Producers’ Concerns: USDA Not Adequately
Protecting Borders Against Unauthorized Cattle Imports 

Billings, Mont. (July 15, 2008) – In substantiation of allegations made by R-CALF USA against the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) for failure to meet its statutory duty to protect the U.S. cattle herd and U.S. consumers against the introduction of foreign animal diseases, such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and bovine tuberculosis (TB), the USDA Office of Inspector General (OIG) has issued a hard-hitting audit report covering August 2006 through July 2007. 

The report states in part: “APHIS’ import controls are not sufficient to prevent, detect, or address the entry of animals that do not meet import requirements (pg. 6).” The OIG also states it found that APHIS’ “animal import procedures were not sufficient to prevent unauthorized shipments (of live animals) into the United States (pg. 13),” and that APHIS’ current practice of allowing shipments of Mexican cattle into the U.S. – even after an animal in the shipment was rejected for health concerns, and without confirming the status of that animal – “is not in compliance with regulatory requirements (pg. 22).” The OIG points out this is a critical issue, given that the OIG previously had found that “75 percent of the bovine infected with TB found in the United States were imported from Mexico (pg. 21).” 

“These findings are alarming, to say the least,” said R-CALF USA President/Region VI Director Max Thornsberry, a Missouri veterinarian who chairs the group’s animal health committee. “For the past five years, R-CALF USA has been the lone voice in the U.S. cattle and beef industries that has been calling upon Congress and the judicial system to first accept, and then to correct, the fact that our own government is exposing U.S. consumers and our U.S. cattle herd to unnecessary and avoidable disease risks from imported cattle. Perhaps now that we have yet another official government report that substantiates our claims, Congress and the courts will take meaningful steps to correct this unacceptable situation.” 

In its most recent lawsuit against USDA’s OTM (over-30-months) Rule that allows the importation of OTM Canadian cattle and beef from Canadian cattle of all ages, R-CALF USA argued that, “A regulation whose protection of the health of U.S. cattle, and ultimately U.S. consumers, is founded on a requirement for which there is no specified means of compliance and no practicable means of verifying or enforcing compliance is arbitrary and capricious and should be struck down.” 

With respect to the OTM Rule, the OIG audit states the problems that the OIG found regarding compliance with APHIS’ earlier (minimal risk region) rule “raise concerns with APHIS’ controls over live animal imports and whether the controls are adequate to ensure compliance with import restrictions (contained in the OTM Rule) (pg. 10)…” 

Thornsberry said the list of infractions and failures found by the OIG suggests that APHIS does not take seriously its responsibility to enforce U.S. import protections.   

“The agency, even in its response to this official report, continues to demonstrate a cavalier attitude regarding its duty to U.S. citizens,” he pointed out. “For example, despite the ongoing problem with BSE in Canada, APHIS states in response to the audit that the agency did not believe it was necessary to perform specific reviews of Canada’s export operations (pg. 12).” 

Additional Findings in the OIG audit include: 

• APHIS does not have adequate processes in place to determine the extent of import problems nationwide when individual violations are identified by field units (pg. 6).
• APHIS does not have effective systems or controls for approving and/or tracking live animals into and through the United States (pg. 6).
  • The OIG found cattle entered the United States that did not meet import requirements (pg. 7).
  • The OIG found 145 indications of noncompliance with the 2005 minimal-risk region rule (pg. 8).

• APHIS officials did not sufficiently document import problems (pg. 9).
• Animals entered the United States without APHIS inspection (pg. ii).
• During FYs 2005 and 2006, 161 animal shipments gained unauthorized entry into the United States     (pg. iv).
• APHIS did not ensure that all restricted cattle or swine arrived at an approved slaughter establishment (pg. 16).
• APHIS could not account for more than 14,000 official USDA seals at five area offices (pg. 25).
• APHIS failed to re-inspect slaughter establishments that imported live animals, as is required every six months by APHIS protocols to prevent the dissemination of animal diseases (pg. 29).
• Over 142,000 cattle and swine from Canada were slaughtered in U.S. slaughtering establishments without APHIS ensuring that proper import protocols were in place (pg. 29).
• APHIS lacks management oversight to ensure port officials properly implement import requirements   (pg. 31).
• Port-of-entry officials did not ensure compliance with animal import requirements (pg. 32).
• Since 2002, APHIS did not review – at all – 51 ports-of-entry that were responsible for the majority of imported animals (pg. 32).
• APHIS used incorrect animal import data to prepare reports for stakeholders and to perform analysis of import patterns to develop models for emerging diseases (pg. 34).

“Because this official laundry list of serious infractions and failures clearly demonstrates USDA-APHIS has put both U.S. consumers and the U.S. cattle herd in danger, we renew our requests to Congress for the immediate repeal of each of APHIS’ BSE rules that currently allow live animal imports from Canada,” Thornsberry emphasized. “R-CALF also calls for immediate import restrictions on Mexican cattle until Mexico effectively controls its ongoing TB problem.” 

Note: To view the OIG Audit Report, visit the “BSE-Litigation” link at www.r-calfusa.com, or contact R-CALF USA Communications Coordinator Shae Dodson to request a copy. 

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R-CALF USA (Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America) is a national, non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring the continued profitability and viability of the U.S. cattle industry. R-CALF USA represents thousands of U.S. cattle producers on trade and marketing issues. Members are located across 47 states and are primarily cow/calf operators, cattle backgrounders, and/or feedlot owners. R-CALF USA has dozens of affiliate organizations and various main-street businesses are associate members. For more information, visit www.r-calfusa.com  or, call 406-252-2516.   

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                            This page was last updated on Wednesday, December 24, 2008.