WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration eased a ban on European pork imports that was imposed two months ago because of the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.
Restrictions were lifted for Denmark and nine other members of the European Union that have been free of the disease. Denmark was the ban's biggest victim because the U.S. is one of the largest markets for its pork industry.
"This is following the completion of a scientific risk assessment" by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said Kevin Herglotz, press secretary for U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman. "The lifting of restrictions will begin immediately," Mr. Herglotz said.
The U.S. ban on pork will remain in place for countries where cases of the disease have been confirmed: the United Kingdom, France, Ireland, the Netherlands and Greece.
Imports of European beef and lamb also have been banned from the U.S., because of concerns about mad-cow disease. Foot-and-mouth disease, unlike mad-cow, is harmless to people, but spreads quickly through livestock and wildlife.
Canada relaxed its restrictions a week ago.
"This in no way lessens our efforts at prevention," Bobby Acord, associate administrator for the Agriculture Department's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, said Friday. "We want to remain vigilant. We will continue our efforts to increase our personnel, to tighten our regulatory enforcement."
The USDA plans to increase inspections at airports to prevent travelers from bringing in the virus, which is common throughout much of the world. The department is hiring hundreds of new inspectors and doubling its teams of dogs that sniff luggage for contraband food. The U.S. has been free of the foot-and-mouth disease since 1929.
Friday's action will allow Danish pork now being held in quarantine to begin moving to U.S. stores and restaurants, Mr. Acord said. "There is actually quite a bit from my understanding. The cold storage warehouses are pretty full."
Besides Denmark, the countries now allowed to ship pork to the U.S. are Austria, Belgium, Finland, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.
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