Mike Johanns Beef Quotations

In beef trade issues, we base our decisions upon science.

While this is a not food safety issue, this is a unacceptable failure on our part to meet the requirements of our agreements with trading partner Japan. As I said, we take this matter very seriously, recognizing the importance of beef export markets. We are acting swiftly and firmly.

When one cow was found with BSE in 2003, many of our trading partners closed their borders to our beef.