copy from Ark-Dem Gazette:
(Long Reading)
At least some of the international aid pouring into Little Rock Air Force Base won’t make its way to victims of Hurricane Katrina, officials said Monday.
Some of the prepackaged Meals, Ready to Eat donated by the United Kingdom contain meat products, said Steven Cohen, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service.
British beef is barred from entering the United States because mad-cow disease, a degenerative disease affecting the central nervous system, was discovered in Britain in the mid-1980s. The disease, also called bovine spongiform encephalopathy, is thought to cause variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a deadly brain-destroying illness, in humans.
Still, the restrictions have more to do with trade regulations than with safety, Cohen said.
"It’s not necessarily a question of the food being unsafe," Cohen said. "The question is that the law prohibits certain foods from certain countries."
U.S. troops are permitted to eat the NATO ration packs sent by the British.
Cohen said there was no need to consider whether to allow food deemed safe for the troops to be delivered to hurricane victims because enough food is making its way to the victims. "The response from all nations including the UK has just been fabulous."
The prepackaged meals that won’t be delivered to hurricane victims are in storage, Cohen said. He and other officials lacked details about where the food was being stored and how much of the overall shipments has been rejected. Cohen said that the meals account for a "very small amount of what’s been donated."
Darla Jordan, a spokesman for the U.S. State Department, said that American officials are working with the countries that made donations to determine what to do with the donated items.
In all, some 400,000 Meals, Ready to Eat were donated by foreign countries, said Army Major Paul Swiergosz, a spokesman for the Defense Department.
He said that if the food is needed it will be easy to separate products since the meals are in divided pouches. For instance, some European countries include wine in the meals, which is removed before being given to U.S. troops.
He also said that not all of packages contain meat as a main dish.
Some pallets awaiting shipment on Monday contained vegetarian meals, said Air Force Lt. Jon Quinlan, a spokesman for the Little Rock Air Force Base in Jacksonville. The base has been the hub for all international aid, receiving shipments from Russia, China, Thailand, Egypt and others.
To date, the base has received 1,842 tons of goods from other countries, Quinlan said.