May 6, 2004 The Washington Post by Marc Kaufman and Cindy Skrzycki

Under its April 19 policy shift, which was posted on the USDA Web site without comment, the agency had expanded the list of allowed beef products from Canada to include ground beef, beef with bones, tongue and liver from young animals. Those parts of the animal had been banned or restricted out of concern they could spread the infection that causes mad cow disease, which was detected in Canada last year.

Both Canadian and U.S. beef producers with facilities in Canada had lobbied for the change, which would have significantly increased the amount of Canadian beef entering the United States.

Yesterday, the USDA acknowledged that it had skirted its own regulatory requirements in making the change without public input, and agreed to rescind the decision.

After an animal with mad cow disease was found in Alberta last May, the USDA banned beef from Canada as a public health danger. The agency publicly relaxed some of the rules in August and began reopening the Canadian border to some beef products. That effort was set back when another infected cow, also born in Canada, was found in Washington state in December.

Canadian beef exporters said yesterday that Canadian ground beef and other formerly prohibited products were probably exported to the United States between the April 19 USDA relaxation and April 26 -- when U.S. District Judge Richard F. Cebull in Billings, Mont., ordered the USDA to stop its new policy.

"It is troubling to the Court how USDA could believe it is appropriate procedure to authorize all imports of bovine meat products from Canada, through the April 19, 2004 memorandum, at the very same time when USDA is in the middle of a rulemaking to determine whether to take such a step," Cebull wrote.

USDA spokeswoman Alisa Harrison said the agency agreed to the preliminary injunction because "we probably could have been more clear in our administrative steps. . . . We were just expanding our permitting process to allow in some additional beef products from Canada."

The lawsuit against the USDA was brought by the Ranchers Cattlemen Action Legal Fund (R-CALF), a nonprofit group that represents cattle ranchers. CEO Bill Bullard said his group filed suit because it was concerned that health and safety rules to protect against mad cow disease were being ignored.

"On April 19, their intention was to let in ground beef, hearts, kidneys, tripe, tongue and lips," he said. "The USDA jumped outside the rulemaking process and made decisions that were not based on science."

Bullard also said his group was concerned about information suggesting that some Canadian ground beef had been coming into the United States since August. Yesterday, USDA's Harrison acknowledged that the importing of beef "trim" from cattle less than 30 months old had been permitted since August, and that some of it was made into ground beef. She said it is unclear how much Canadian ground beef was imported.

The judge's ruling noted that when Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman announced that boneless beef from Canada could be imported because it was considered to have minimal risk of transmitting mad cow disease, she said other beef products would still be banned "until a rulemaking is completed." A final rule is expected this summer.

Under the preliminary injunction signed yesterday, the USDA cannot allow beef products from the expanded April 19 list into the country until at least five days after the final rule on Canadian beef imports is made public. Bullard said that provision was designed to give the cattlemen's group an opportunity to file suit again if it opposed provisions of the final USDA rule.

Mark Dopp, senior vice president of the American Meat Institute, which represents processors and packers, defended the April 19 policy relaxation and said it is "irresponsible" to assert the meat from Canada would not be safe. "There is no reason to think the products in that memo wouldn't come across appropriately," he said.

But Senate Minority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D) applauded the developments. "I am pleased that cooler heads have prevailed and that the Bush administration will take a more thoughtful and deliberative approach before allowing certain beef products into the United States from Canada," he said.