Ted Yoho Looks to Halt Beef Imported from Brazil

Drawing on his experience as a large-animal veterinarian as well as his perch on the U.S. House Agriculture Committee, U.S. Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Fla., is asking the U.S. Department of Agriculture to freeze importing beef from Brazil.

Earlier this month, Yoho wrote Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Administrator Kevin Shea asking to end beef imported from Brazil until the Government Accountability Office (GAO) studies it.

Historically, Brazil has had issues with the highly contagious and most economically damaging livestock viruses in the world, Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD), Yoho said on Tuesday. The United States has been free from FMD since 1929 and reintroduction of the disease would pose a significant threat to the health and well-being of our national livestock herds.

Yoho pointed to a federal Food Safety Inspection Service report earlier this year which showed major problems with Brazils food safety processes and previous FMD problems in that South American nation.