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Mad cow disease meets mad bureaucrats in border tiff

by Meg Olson

Despite mad cows on both sides of the border, beef did not disappear from local shelves and plates thanks to some creative shipping solutions. Thursdays were still burger night at TJ’s and there was Spam on sale at the Marketplace, with beef products coming to Point Roberts by boat or airplane after Canadian authorities closed their border to beef products, even those just passing through.

At 1 a.m. on December 29 the Associated Grocers truck bound for Point Roberts International Marketplace was turned around at the Canadian port of entry at Pacific Highway. “The goods in transit were turned back because there were beef products,” said Associated Grocers chief financial officer John Carrosino. While the company was able to start food deliveries to Point Roberts up again the next day, not even a whiff of beef was allowed through Canada. “That includes frozen dinners, soups, pet foods, nutritional supplements,” said Marketplace manager Jay Lewis.

The store usually receives two truckloads of groceries from Associated Grocers every week, which cross through Canada in bond to reach the Point from the mainland. While the goods are only in transit through Canada the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) decided to block deliveries to the Point along with all other imports of beef from the United States following the late December discovery of Bovine Spongiform Encephalitis (BSE), or mad cow disease, in a “downer” cow slaughtered in eastern Washington. “This situation is part of the temporary closure pending the completion of the investigation,” said CFIA representative Alain Charette.

With a ban on Canadian beef products entering the United States in place since May 2003 after a cow with BSE was found in Alberta, local meat-eaters couldn’t buy their meat in Canada. “Currently there are no consumer beef imports. Those rules haven’t changed” said U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection Point Roberts port director Linda Robinson. “What are we supposed to do? All become vegetarians?”

U.S Congressman Rick Larsen’s office started working with Canadian food inspection authorities to get a system up and running by the end of January that would allow goods to travel through Canada in a sealed container. “Point Roberts is unique and will need unique solutions,” said Larsen representative Abbey Blake.

“We in Ottawa are aware of Point Roberts unique situation and are looking at alternatives.” Charrette said. adding the speed with which the issue will be resolved will depend on how quickly the mad cow issue is resolved in the U.S. “If there is a quick resolution the issue may be resolved by default,” he said. “If not there are a number of hypotheses that could be applied to your community.”

Throughout January Lewis came up with some unique solutions of his own to get meat to the Point. Bellingham fisher Doug Buatte brought a boatload of meat in to the Point Roberts Marina January 12 and Nielson’s Building Center donated their flatbed truck to bring the groceries to the Marketplace. Then on January 26 local groceries took to the air, with pounds of steaks and roasts arriving at the local airstrip via Island Air to stock local shelves.

A policy solution was posted on the CFIA website January 22, exempting goods in transit and beef under five kilograms for personal consumption from the beef ban. “As long as it’s in transit and sealed at the border they can drive it on through to Point Roberts,” said CFIA communications manager for the western area Paul Lackoff. “The ports have been told and I believe developed some paperwork.”

However, that didn’t translate into a practical solution quite so easily and a system for allowing beef-bearing trucks through Canada was still not in place a week later, though Lackoff said they were hoping to have a system in place January 31. “There are no guarantees,” he said. “CFIA has to insure all Canada Customs agents are aware of the procedure and up to speed. We don’t want to see trucks get turned away.”

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