US Tyson Foods, Inc., which is said to be the world's largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef, and pork, has filed a brief in support of the USDA's appeal of a recent court decision that has delayed the reopening of the US border to Canadian cattle imports. The company brief calls the court decision "bad" law and "bad" for consumers and notes there is no scientific basis for keeping the border closed.
According to the brief filed by Tyson with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, the injunction should be lifted and the final rule should be permitted to take effect. The company states the USDA rule is supported by an ‘impressive scientific record’ and is designed to help protect the consumer and the US beef industry from the threat of BSE. "The district court simply failed to engage the administrative record in this case." The result is an opinion riddled with "a number of errors."
A preliminary injunction was granted in early March by a federal judge in Montana at the request of the Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund (R-CALF). The injunction has prevented implementation of USDA's minimal-risk rule, which would re-establish US trade with Canada for live cattle less than 30 months of age.
