Australia: Our beef is safe, ban not necessary

SYDNEY – Australia said yesterday a Philippine ban on imported Australian beef was unnecessary and that a farm at the center of an anthrax scare has been quarantined.

The Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service said it had not been informed of the ban but that there was "really no reason" for any ban on the produce.

"We’re talking about one animal on one property in Victoria and that animal has been destroyed," said quarantine spokesman David Finlayson.

The property would be quarantined for a total of 42 days, he added.

In the Philippines, Agriculture Secretary Leonardo Montemayor has rejected the request of meat importers to confine the ban on meat from Victoria state.

"We cannot compromise the health and safety of the Filipino people," he said.

The 38-strong Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc. (PAMPI), which includes Swift Foods Inc. and Purefoods-Hormel, has asked Montemayor to be selective in banning imported beef from Australia. – AFP, Rocel Felix