USDA LIKELY TO WIND DOWN BSE INVESTIGATION

STEPPING UP EFFORTS TO REESTABLISH BEEF TRADE

USDA will likely begin winding down its formal BSE investigation in Washington State as early as this week, while increasing its diplomatic efforts to get U.S. beef exports moving again, according to Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman.

Veneman said the scientific importance and likelihood of finding the remaining animals which entered the U.S. with the infected BSE cow was diminishing rapidly, and that her opinion was supported by a recommendation from her international scientific review team which questioned the continuing dedication of manpower and resources to the ongoing investigation.

She said efforts to reestablish beef exports were accelerating. Undersecretary Bill Hawks is in Mexico for talks on opening the Mexican border she said, underscoring that Mexico is the U.S.'s largest customer for beef by volume and second largest by value. At the same time, Undersecretary J.B. Penn is getting ready for a mid-February delegation trip to Japan for further discussions, and that U.S. Special Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, as part of his world tour to reinvigorate the Doha Round of WTO discussions, will be in Japan this week to talk beef sales. In a related development, a Korean technical team will be in the U.S. this week to talk BSE-related issues.