‘China suspension of beef imports not tied to call for COVID-19 inquiry’

[caption id="attachment_4413" align="aligncenter" width="1014"] File Photo[/caption] The decision to ban imports from Australia's four largest beef processors is not in response to calls for an independent investigation into the origins of Canberra's COVID-19. Australian Commerce Minister Simon Birmingham spoke on Tuesday (May 12, 2020). Birmingham had earlier said in a statement that Kilcoy Pastoral Company, JBS’s Beef City and Dinmore plants, and the Northern Cooperative Meat Company have been banned from exporting beef to China due to issues with labelling. The suspension of the beef shipments came as ties between Australia and China publicly soured, although Birmingham said he did not believe it was retribution by China over the call for an inquiry into the orgins of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Source: Online/SZK