A Chinese ban on Canadian beef that industry officials expected would be short-lived remains in place seventeen months later.

Dennis Laycraft of the Canadian Cattle Association says he doesn’t know why China continues to block imports from Canadian beef processing plants.

China imposed restrictions on Canadian beef after a case of atypical B-S-E was found in an Alberta cow in December 2021.

But unlike classic B-S-E, also known as mad cow disease, atypical B-S-E poses no health risk to people and is not transmissible.

Laycraft says most countries don’t impose trade restrictions at all for these cases and that China has lifted restrictions against other countries with similar cases in much shorter time frames.

In 2021, before the market restrictions were imposed, China was Canada’s third-largest beef export market, importing one-hundred-ninety-three million dollars’ worth of product.

(Canadian Press)