Lamb and Sheep Offal Exports to Mexico Suspended Over Single Scrapie Case

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In late July, USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) surveillance program detected a case of classical scrapie in a single sheep at a slaughter facility in Oregon. It was the first such detection in the U.S. in more than five years.

Although APHIS has not found any additional scrapie cases, Mexico has implemented a ban on U.S. sheep and lamb offal and viscera. As U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) Director of Technical and Export Services Courtney Heller explains, this has a tremendous impact on U.S. sheep producers, as Mexico is the primary market for U.S. sheep and lamb variety meats.

Heller notes that scrapie is a degenerative prion disease of sheep and goats that is not shown to show risk to human health. While Mexico is the only country to impose restrictions in response to the recent scrapie case, several countries have longstanding scrapie-related constraints on U.S. product, including South Korea, Saudi Arabia and China, as well as the European Union and United Kingdom.

TRANSCRIPT