BSE: FOOD SAFETY COMMITTEE TO REVIEW BAN ON US

UNCLAS KUWAIT 000989 SIPDIS USDA FOR FAS ITP/OA/SHEIKH, BERNSTEIN; COMP/DL/WETSEL USDA FOR APHIS OA/FERNANDEZ DUBAI FOR MICHAEL HENNEY E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ETRD EAGR TBIO KU SUBJECT: BSE: FOOD SAFETY COMMITTEE TO REVIEW BAN ON US BEEF NEXT WEEK REF: A. KUWAIT 571 ¶B. KUWAIT 65 ¶C. SECSTATE 9666 ¶D. KUWAIT 301 ¶1. (U) During a March 9, 2005 meeting with Undersecretary Rasheed Al-Tabtabaei, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, and Abdulaziz Al-Khalidi, the Ministry's Assistant Undersecretary for Commercial Controls, Econcoun inquired about the status of the ban on importing beef from Washington state, referring to previous discussion on this topic (see reftels). U/S Al-Tabtabaei said that the Ministry had referred the item to the Food Safety Committee and that it was on their agenda for the next meeting. He then called the head of the Food Safety Committee to confirm that the next scheduled meeting would be held next week. ¶2. (U) The U/S restated the Ministry's support on lifting the ban while still making it clear that the final decision rested with the Food Safety Committee. He did promise that if the Committee decided in favor of lifting the ban the Ministry would issue the necessary decree to enact their decision "the very same day." ¶3. (U) Embassy will follow up with the U/S on this issue after the Committee meeting next week and report on the decision septel. LEBARON