China in beef talks with US

China is in talks with the United States to allow beef imports from cattle up to 30 months old, a spokesman for the country’s top quality watchdog said on Friday.

The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine held talks with the US Department of Agriculture and the Office of the United States Trade Representative to resume the imports of beef from cattle up to 30 months old. The talks were held during the 2013 US-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade in November, Chen Xitong, spokesman for the quality watchdog, said during a media conference.

Talks are still ongoing over some “technological issues,” Chen said.

Chinese authorities initially banned all US beef imports when mad cow disease was found in the United States in 2003.

In 2006, China lifted the ban on beef imports from cattle up to 30 months old and five kinds of by-products.

However, US beef imports to China continue to stagnate due to the fact that US authorities, who insisted that China lift the ban on all beef imports and products, refused to issue sanitary certificates for beef from cattle up to 30 months old, according to the quality watchdog.