One of the better news of the year is that Europe and the US would lift the ban on Dominican beef exports. El Caribe reports that the laboratory that would certify the beef exports should be fully operational in two months time. The DR lost its permission to export because of negligence of the Ministry of Agriculture at the time in maintaining the laboratory in optimum conditions. Marcelino Vargas, director of the cattleranching department of the Ministry of Agriculture, said that the DR is in capacity to export 40 million pounds of beef a year. The timing for the exports is right. Mad cow and foot-and-mouth disease in Europe resulted in the US banning European beef imports.
