Thailand welcomes back Canadian beef

"We're making progress steadily, and this kind of proves that," said Darcy Davis, chairman of the Alberta Beef Producers, which is a member of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association.

"Thailand isn't a huge market for us for beef, but at the same time as each market opens it creates momentum."

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada announced Saturday that Thailand will now allow imports of Canadian beef and beef products from cattle under 30 months of age.

Dozens of countries stopped importing Canadian beef in 2003 after our first case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, was found in Alberta.

Thailand is not a country that buys a lot of expensive product, Davis said. But there's a hotel market there that takes a lot of specialty meats that aren't as popular in North America, he said.

"So that adds value to our products. As those countries in Asia keep opening, it keeps working us towards the major markets like Taiwan and South Korea," he added.

"We've tried to make some progress with them, but these last two (mad cow) positives have set us back a little in those markets."

The fourth and fifth cases of BSE in Canada were discovered in January and April of this year.

Thai officials made their decision on Canadian beef following a series of visits and technical information exchanges hosted by Ottawa.

"This is the way trade happens with respect to meat," said Alain Charette, spokesman for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

"You just can't start shipping anything anywhere. You have to have an agreement in the first place with the country."

The importing country must have confidence in the animal health status of the exporting country, and its inspection and processing systems, he said.

Canada did not have a "pre-existing channel" for exporting meat to Thailand before BSE was discovered in 2003, Charette said.

Davis said the amount that was sold to them before 2003 was small and could likely be measured in tonnes. But there is potential for growth there, he added.

Really big news would involve South Korea and Taiwan, though each makes up less three per cent of the export market. They're significant because they buy the portions of the cattle that North Americans aren't as interested in, he said.

"All of this stuff is like driving in the fog," Davis said.

"We think we get fairly close and then we have something like these last two cases and this sometimes sets us back. We're working with the Canadian government to really make those a priority and try to get those countries the confidence they need in our food safety systems to get back into those markets."

Other countries that've already reopened their borders to Canadian beef include the United States, Japan, Mexico, Cuba, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Russia, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Jamaica, Philippines, and Trinidad and Tobago.