Queensland abattoir urges Beijing to re-test its beef, says animals are clean

The Queensland abattoir at the centre of China’s newest import ban has urged Beijing to re-test its beef.

Warren Stiff, left, outside the John Dee meatworks in Warwick, Queensland. Picture: Dan Peled

The Queensland abattoir at the centre of a fresh beef ban from China is urging Beijing to re-test its meat, saying it is confident Chinese Customs detected a false positive for a drug used to treat eye infections in cats and dogs.

Warren Stiff, the chief executive of John Dee abattoir in Warwick, said multiple tests of the same consignment of beef sent to China produced negative results for chloramphenicol — an antibiotic drug — with only one sample producing a positive result for the banned substance.

“Dependent upon the particular lab testing procedure used, false positives are reasonably likely to occur. A confirmatory second test is scientifically valid under generally accepted residue testing programs,” Mr Stiff said.

“We have been advised that following testing of multiple products in the consignment only one primal was involved and the other beef primals from the same production were cleared.

“We are making all requests to run a confirmation test in China of retained product, thereby ruling out the chance of a false positive result.”

Chinese customs suspended beef imports from John Dee — the oldest single-family owned meat processor in Australia, based in Warwick, in Queensland’s southeast — a day after Scott Morrison announced he would legislate to tear up Victoria’s multi-million-dollar Belt and Road Initiative agreement with Beijing and other agreements found to be against the national interest.

It was the fifth abattoir in Queensland that China has banned beef imports from.

It follows Beijing imposing punitive 80 per cent tariffs on Australian barley and launching an anti-dumping investigation into Australian wine, after the Prime Minister pushed for an inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus, which spread from Wuhan to the rest of the globe from early January.

The abattoir is also in the electorate of Agriculture Minister David Littleproud.

Beijing’s deputy ambassador to Australia, Wang Xining, has likened the worsening relations with Australia to a bad marriage and said Mr Morrison had ­offended the Chinese people with his push for an inquiry into COVID-19.

Mr Stiff said extensive tracing, including independent testing, showed none of John Dee’s animals had been treated with the banned antibiotic drug in a six-month period.

“Through a traceback of prior production and working with the respected and independent feedlot supplying the 150 head contract we were able to prove that no animal has been treated with the banned antibiotic during the six-month grain feeding period,” he said.

“Routine antibiotic testing, conducted by a NATA (National Association of Testing Authorities) approved lab, during production did not indicate the presence of any antibiotic.

“We have carton products in store from the same consignment and have arranged further laboratory testing to confirm status. All cartons are traceable by barcode and correlated by production time and are linked to beef carcass and animal origin.”

Moreover, Mr Stiff said the Australian National Livestock Identification Scheme individually identified livestock entering the food chain and its records had been provided to the Department of Agriculture.

He said John Dee prided itself on the accuracy of its carton labelling, after Mr Morrison on Friday urged meat processors to get their “paperwork right” or risk being denied entry to China.

Mr Stiff said the Chinese ban would force John Dee to stand down staff at a time Australia was battling a recession.