Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper says his country's beef export program has been granted full market access by Hong Kong. Harper says this sends a strong signal to the entire Asia-Pacific region that Canadian beef is safe and that Canada's food safety systems are grounded in sound science. John Masswohl, director of government and international relations for the Canadian Cattlemen's Association, says it's either what they expected or better than what they expected.
However, Canadian cattlemen want more information. They want to know whether Hong Kong will accept all boneless and bone-in beef product from both cattle younger and older than 30 months of age, or all product from younger cattle and only boneless product from older cattle as expected.
Hong Kong limited imports of Canadian beef to boneless product from younger cattle in 2004. Then in January of 2009, Hong Kong and Canada agreed to a three-phased re-opening expected to culminate by the end of this year with access to all beef and beef product from younger cattle and boneless beef from older cattle. A statement from the prime minister suggests Hong Kong also threw in bone-in beef from older cattle.
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