{ "id": "R40199", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "number": "R40199", "active": true, "source": "EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "versions": [ { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 586914, "date": "2017-01-05", "retrieved": "2020-01-02T14:57:31.390554", "title": "U.S.-EU Poultry Dispute on the Use of Pathogen Reduction Treatments (PRTs)", "summary": "In January 2009, the United States escalated a long-running dispute with the European Union (EU) over its refusal to accept imports of U.S. poultry treated with certain pathogen reduction treatments (PRTs) by requesting World Trade Organization (WTO) consultations with the EU on the matter, a prerequisite first step toward the establishment of a formal WTO dispute settlement panel. This dispute dates back to 1997, when the EU first banned the use of PRTs on poultry, effectively shutting out virtually all imports from the United States since then. This WTO case has not moved forward. \nPRTs are antimicrobial rinses\u2014including chlorine dioxide, acidified sodium chlorite, trisodium phosphate, and peroxyacids, among others\u2014that have been approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for use in poultry processing to reduce the amount of microbes on meat. Meat and poultry products processed with PRTs are judged safe by the United States and also by European food safety authorities. Nevertheless, the EU prohibits the use of PRTs and the importation of poultry treated with these substances. The EU generally opposes such chemical interventions and believes that stronger sanitary practices during production and processing are more appropriate for pathogen control than what it views as U.S. overreliance on PRTs.\nAs PRTs are widely used in U.S. poultry processing, the EU\u2019s ban on their use effectively prohibits U.S. poultry meat from entering EU countries. Although the United States is the second largest global exporter of poultry (broiler and turkey) meat, virtually no U.S. poultry meat is being purchased for consumption in the EU, according to USDA. As the EU is a major importer of poultry products, some estimate that the combined effects of the ban and the growth of the EU market may have led to $200 million to $300 million in lost U.S. sales annually.\nTo date, the United States and EU have not been able to reach agreement on a number of issues related to veterinary equivalency, and the EU continues to maintain measures that prohibit the use of any substance other than water to remove contamination from animal products unless the substance has been approved by the European Commission, which has rejected USDA\u2019s applications to the EU\u2019s health agencies requesting approval to use certain poultry treatments. The United States is seeking approval of four PRTs: peroxyacetic acid, chlorine dioxide, acidified sodium chlorite, and trisodium. \nThe U.S. poultry industry and the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) remain actively engaged in this case. This issue also continues to be raised in ongoing trade negotiations between the United States and EU to establish a free trade area as part of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP). The U.S. poultry industry has indicated that it is unlikely to support a T-TIP agreement that does not provide for better access to the EU of U.S. poultry products.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/R40199", "sha1": "db72e97189e13213adf844049b7507a96e36f38f", "filename": "files/20170105_R40199_db72e97189e13213adf844049b7507a96e36f38f.html", "images": {} }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R40199", "sha1": "50121853f26e8349951ac265e826686a150b05fb", "filename": "files/20170105_R40199_50121853f26e8349951ac265e826686a150b05fb.pdf", "images": {} } ], "topics": [ { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4743, "name": "Animal Agriculture" }, { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4786, "name": "Europe, Russia, & Eurasia" }, { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4815, "name": "International Environmental Policy" }, { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4829, "name": "Agricultural Trade & Food Aid" }, { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4893, "name": "Agricultural Trade" } ] }, { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 437197, "date": "2015-01-15", "retrieved": "2016-04-06T19:40:08.647630", "title": "U.S.-EU Poultry Dispute on the Use of Pathogen Reduction Treatments (PRTs)", "summary": "In January 2009, the outgoing Bush Administration escalated a long-running dispute with the European Union (EU) over its refusal to accept imports of U.S. poultry processed with certain pathogen reduction treatments (PRTs). Bush officials requested World Trade Organization (WTO) consultations with the EU on the matter, a prerequisite first step toward the establishment of a formal WTO dispute settlement panel. The U.S. poultry industry supported the WTO filing by the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) and encouraged the Obama Administration to continue to pursue the case.\nPRTs are antimicrobial rinses\u2014including chlorine dioxide, acidified sodium chlorite, trisodium phosphate, and peroxyacids, among others\u2014that have been approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for use in poultry processing to reduce the amount of microbes on meat. Meat and poultry products processed with PRTs are judged safe by the United States and also by European food safety authorities. Nevertheless, the EU prohibits the use of PRTs and the importation of poultry treated with these substances. The EU generally opposes such chemical interventions and believes that stronger sanitary practices during production and processing are more appropriate for pathogen control than what it views as U.S. overreliance on PRTs.\nAs PRTs are widely used in U.S. poultry processing, the EU\u2019s ban on their use effectively prohibits U.S. poultry meat from entering EU countries. Prior to 1997, when the prohibition took effect, U.S. exports of broiler and turkey meat to the 15 countries that then constituted the EU totaled nearly 38,000 metric tons (MT), valued at $58 million. In 2011, U.S. exports to the same 15 countries were reported to be nearly 9,000 MT, valued at $13 million. USDA analysts believe that almost all of these U.S. exports represent \u201ctransshipments,\u201d meaning that Europe is not the intended final destination and that virtually no U.S. poultry meat is being purchased for the EU market. Now that the EU consists of 27 countries, it currently imports worldwide about $500 million of fresh, chilled, and frozen poultry meat annually (excluding intra-EU trade), most of which is supplied by Brazil and other Latin American countries. Some estimate the U.S. loss of the EU poultry market at between $200 million and $300 million annually. Still, other foreign buyers continue to make the United States the second-largest exporter of poultry meat in the world, after Brazil.\nDespite initial consultations between the United States and the EU, in October 2009, the USTR asked the WTO to establish a dispute settlement panel regarding the EU restrictions on imports of U.S. poultry. The United States has asked the panel to review whether the EU\u2019s ban on the import and marketing of poultry meat and poultry meat products processed with PRTs violates the EU\u2019s WTO obligations. USTR claims that PRTs are judged safe by U.S. and other public health authorities, citing European scientific opinions indicating that PRTs pose no risk to human health. The latest scientific opinion of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) states that \u201cchemical substances in poultry are unlikely to pose an immediate or acute health risk for consumers.\u201d In addition, in 2011, the international food safety organization Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex) issued guidelines for the control of Campylobacter and Salmonella in chicken meat that covers the use of certain hazard-based control measures, including acidified sodium chlorite and trisodium phosphate, among other rinses and oxidants. Some believe the Codex guidelines should effectively resolve concerns about the use of these substances in poultry processing. Nevertheless, USTR and the U.S. poultry industry remain actively engaged in this case, and the United States and EU continue to maintain widely divergent views not only on the poultry issue but on some aspects of their basic approach to food safety regulation.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/R40199", "sha1": "31ca39b2cc9d3d4079ad810e7172268a1286e557", "filename": "files/20150115_R40199_31ca39b2cc9d3d4079ad810e7172268a1286e557.html", "images": null }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R40199", "sha1": "b2c47d311ab75d269b8e9c0b6f4fd2a9f6112ccf", "filename": "files/20150115_R40199_b2c47d311ab75d269b8e9c0b6f4fd2a9f6112ccf.pdf", "images": null } ], "topics": [ { "source": "IBCList", "id": 217, "name": "Agricultural Trade" }, { "source": "IBCList", "id": 3116, "name": "Animal Agriculture" }, { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4412, "name": "International Environmental Law" }, { "source": "IBCList", "id": 522, "name": "European Union" } ] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc462213/", "id": "R40199_2014Jan09", "date": "2014-01-09", "retrieved": "2014-12-05T09:57:41", "title": "U.S.-EU Poultry Dispute on the Use of Pathogen Reduction Treatments (PRTs)", "summary": "This report highlights the dispute between the U.S. and EU over the use of Pathogen Reduction Treatments (PRTs) during the processing of poultry products. PRT's are antimicrobial rinses--including chlorine dioxide, acidified sodium chlorite, trisodium phosphate, and peroxyacids, among others--that have been approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for use in poultry processing to reduce the amount of microbes on meat.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20140109_R40199_799b9eaa7123ca3dbe1be45baacfcdf72d8294c0.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20140109_R40199_799b9eaa7123ca3dbe1be45baacfcdf72d8294c0.html" } ], "topics": [ { "source": "LIV", "id": "Trade", "name": "Trade" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Agriculture in foreign trade", "name": "Agriculture in foreign trade" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Foreign relations -- U.S. -- EU", "name": "Foreign relations -- U.S. -- EU" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Poultry", "name": "Poultry" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Poultry industry", "name": "Poultry industry" } ] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc491010/", "id": "R40199_2010Dec09", "date": "2010-12-09", "retrieved": "2015-01-27T19:40:46", "title": "U.S.-EU Poultry Dispute", "summary": "This report discusses the European Union (EU) refusal to accept U.S. imports of poultry treated with antimicrobial rinses. Prior to 1997, when the prohibition took effect, U.S. exports of broiler and turkey meat to the 15 countries that then constituted the EU were reported to total nearly 32,000 MT with a value of $44.4 million.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20101209_R40199_ace5753bba8c4a8104db9c6f8743929c7432ccc4.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20101209_R40199_ace5753bba8c4a8104db9c6f8743929c7432ccc4.html" } ], "topics": [ { "source": "LIV", "id": "Poultry", "name": "Poultry" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Poultry industry", "name": "Poultry industry" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "International trade", "name": "International trade" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "European Union", "name": "European Union" } ] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc87130/", "id": "R40199_2009Feb04", "date": "2009-02-04", "retrieved": "2012-07-03T07:51:21", "title": "U.S. - EU Poultry Dispute", "summary": "This report discusses the European Union (EU) refusal to accept U.S. imports of poultry treated with antimicrobial rinses. Prior to 1997, when the prohibition took effect, U.S. exports of broiler and turkey meat to the 15 countries that then constituted the EU were reported to total nearly 32,000 MT with a value of $44.4 million.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20090204_R40199_a35b09efa6dc4d07855423458c20344b76e0d1d4.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20090204_R40199_a35b09efa6dc4d07855423458c20344b76e0d1d4.html" } ], "topics": [ { "source": "LIV", "id": "Poultry", "name": "Poultry" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Poultry industry", "name": "Poultry industry" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "International trade", "name": "International trade" }, { "source": "KWD", "id": "European Union", "name": "European Union" } ] } ], "topics": [ "Agricultural Policy" ] }