USMEF Opposes Applying EU Health and Environmental Standards to Imports

The European Commission has issued a Call for Evidence to assess the rationale and legal feasibility of applying EU health and environmental standards to imported agricultural and agri-food products. The U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) filed comments in response, and those comments are available online.

While supportive of the overall goal of working toward a global sustainable food system, USMEF strongly disagrees that applying EU health and environmental standards to imported products will contribute to that goal. USMEF also questions whether such an approach would be compliant with World Trade Organization rules and cautions that it is likely to lead to supply limitations and higher costs for European producers and consumers.

In this week’s audio report, USMEF Senior Director for Export Services Cheyenne McEndaffer notes that the U.S. has some of the world’s most robust animal welfare programs and outcomes, accomplished through voluntary on-farm certifications and stringent animal welfare regulations at USDA-inspected slaughter plants.

If you have questions or would like to schedule an interview on this topic, please contact me or email Joe Schuele.

Photo and transcript for use with this release:

CHEYENNE MCENDAFFER

TRANSCRIPT