By Emmy Powell
Communications Specialist

U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas and U.S. House Committee on Agriculture Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) demanding a review of the procedures and methodology used by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal Plant Health Inspection Services  to finalize the rule allowing  fresh beef imports from Paraguay.

Last year, the USDA made the decision to begin allowing the importation of fresh Paraguayan beef using risk assessment data from site visits to the country from over 10 years ago.

“Chairman Thompson and I will not stand by and allow the Biden-Harris administration to put our livestock producers and agricultural economies at risk by hastily implementing this rule using outdated information from over 10 years ago,” Jackson said. “This is negligence at best and malfeasance at worst.”

The risk assessments put America’s beef, pork and sheep industries at risk of foreign animal diseases, such as foot-and-mouth disease (FMD).

“We demand transparency in the methods used to promulgate this rule, which places the unnecessary risk of an FMD outbreak on American agricultural producers and consumers,” Jackson said.

Texas Farm Bureau (TFB) commends Jackson and Thompson on their efforts regarding the issue.

“To protect our nation’s cattle herd, we must ensure our trading partners meet the same animal health and food safety standards we pride ourselves on in the U.S.,” TFB President Russell Boening said.

Paraguay has had a long history of FMD and could put the U.S. at risk if beef is not properly assessed.

“Unfortunately, Paraguay has historically struggled to contain foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks, so importing their beef would pose a serious threat to not only producers, but also consumers,” said Boening. “It is important for USDA to use updated scientific data before moving forward with rules that could put our nation’s food supply at risk.”

Read the letter.