U.S. takes on EU poultry restrictions in WTO

The United States has requested World Trade Organization dispute settlement consultations with the European Union regarding the EU's ban on the import and marketing of poultry products processed with pathogen reduction treatments found safe by both U.S. and European food safety authorities.

   We have tried to address this issue through dialogue with the EU for more than 11 years, and neither the European Commission nor EU member states have offered any legitimate, science-based reason of continuing to block our poultry, said U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab in a Jan. 16 statement.

   In taking this step, the United States seeks to move the process forward and will act to defend poultry and other U.S. agricultural exports against non-science based restrictions imposed by our trading partners, she added.

   In 1997, the EU began prohibiting the use of pathogen reduction treatments (PRTs)to decontaminate poultry carcasses sold in the EU, stopping virtually all U.S. poultry shipments.

   In 2002, the United States requested EU approval of four PRTs: chlorine dioxide, acidified sodium chloride, trisodium phosphate, and peroxyacids, each one of which was already approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Agriculture Department.

   The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said various EU agencies have issued scientific reports related to the processing of poultry with the four PRTs. The cumulative conclusion of these reports is that the importation and consumption of such poultry poses no risk to human health, the agency said.

   However, on June 2, 2008, a committee comprised of the chief veterinary officers of the EU member states rejected the European Commission's proposal to approve the four PRTs by a vote of 26-0, with the United Kingdom abstaining. On Dec. 18, 2008, the EU Agricultural and Fisheries Council, which is comprised of the agricultural ministers of the EU, voted against the same proposal in an identical tally.

   If WTO consultations fail to resolve the dispute within 60 days, the United States will be entitled to request that a WTO panel be established to determine whether the EU is acting consistently with its WTO obligations.

   As provided in the G-20 Declaration, the United States is deeply concerned about protectionist actions worldwide, including protectionist sanitary and phytosanitary measures, the USTR said.

Source: American Shipper