There are three main groups that represent cattle producers across the country. Without getting too far into the weeds, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) is the well-funded, well represented power player. R-CALF USA is a much smaller, grassroots group of fiercely independent ranchers who leverage litigation to attempt to move the needle. And the United States Cattlemen’s Association (USCA) is somewhere in the middle, with a strong lobbying presence and a belief in country of origin labeling for beef, a preference shared with R-CALF.

The three groups don’t agree on every aspect of the industry, but last week they proved, once again, their shared commitment to animal health, food safety and transparency.

U.S. Senators Mike Rounds (R-South Dakota) and Jon Tester (D-Montana) reintroduced legislation to suspend Brazilian beef imports to the U.S. until experts can conduct a robust review of the commodity’s impact on food safety and animal health.

U.S. consumers enjoy the safest, most affordable and most abundant food supply in the world, and it’s certainly true due in part to the rigorous food safety inspection process in this country. Consumers are also the beneficiaries of the serious commitment livestock producers and other professionals make to animal health and proper livestock handling.

Sens. Rounds and Tester initially introduced the bill in 2021 after Brazil revealed two cases of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, more commonly known as “Mad Cow Disease.” According to releases from the USDA, the cases were discovered in June and not reported until November. Conversely, the United Kingdom and Germany both reported cases to the World Organization of Animal Health within days of occurrence that same year.

Brazil’s refusal to report cases for months or years continued with cases in 2012, 2014 and 2019. Though the limited number of cases themselves may not indicate health issues in the Brazilian cowherd, the pattern of delayed reporting hints at a lackadaisical or disorganized food safety and animal health reporting system. This becomes even more concerning knowing the protocols, testing and difficult decisions U.S. experts and producers are making to keep Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza and African Swine Fever tamped down. In Colorado, about 80% of the state’s laying hens were destroyed to combat HPAI. Multiple reports of pork products seized at our borders that have tested positive for ASF have kept our nation’s hog herd making bacon safely.

Tester and Rounds’ bill would impose a moratorium on Brazilian beef imports until a recommendation has been made by a group of food safety, animal health and trade experts to allow the trade gates to open again.

All three major cattle trade organizations weighed in on the bill, pointing out several countries have already banned Brazilian beef imports; calling for all trade partners to be held accountable without exception; and aligning national security and food security to ensure all beef in the supply chain is safe.

And then, hours later, Brazil confirmed for the third time since 2021 an atypical BSE case has surfaced. In the releases I’ve read, it’s unclear when the case was confirmed.

Brazil not only has a huge slice of meat processing here in the U.S. – and Colorado, for that matter – they also run the world’s second-largest cattle herd at 232 million head and are the world’s largest exporter of beef with about 20% of total global beef exports, according to the USDA’s Economic Research Service.

China has historically been the largest importer of Brazilian beef, even with a since lifted, three-month embargo driven by BSE concerns, along with Hong Kong, South Africa, Iran and Iraq, among others. Brazil is also the largest producer of halal meat, which opens tremendous demand in heavily populated Muslim markets where incomes are climbing and with it, demand for beef.

In the U.S., foreign beef comprises about 10-20% of total supplies. According again to the USDA’s ERS, imported beef is more obvious to track, while beef on the hoof coming into the country is more difficult. Only some buyers and feeders have a business plan that allows them to feed imported cattle because, as a general rule, they are older and less efficient, require more days on feed and quality grade lower. That said, a cattle feeder once told me only the healthiest of cattle make it as far as a U.S. feedyard before natural selection sorts the herd. Most imports of livestock come from Canada and Mexico, though the two nation’s beef herds are different in many ways.

Our country’s cowherd is incredibly efficient, productive, healthy and well managed, and the need to import beef can be a sticking point for many producers. However, just as there are well-bred, well-fed cattle that are genetically superior and hang an impressive carcass, there is also a demand for drive-thru ground beef tacos. There is room for different kinds of beef, but no tolerance for bad players when it comes to food safety and animal health.

Rachel Gabel writes about agriculture and rural issues. She is assistant editor of The Fence Post Magazine, the region’s preeminent agriculture publication. Gabel is a daughter of the state’s oil and gas industry and a member of one of the state’s 12,000 cattle-raising families, and she has authored children’s books used in hundreds of classrooms to teach students about agriculture.