Brussels, 16/03/2004 (Agence Europe) - David Byrne, European Commissioner for Consumer and Health Protection is on an official visit to the United States on 18 and 19 March. Discussions with US counterparts for facilitating Trans-Atlantic trade will focus on food safety and public and animal health. The meeting with Ann Veneman, US Secretary of Agriculture will also look at avian influenza, detected in Texas, as well as US measures taken to reduce the spread of the disease since the EU's embargo on chicken imports and US eggs (EUROPE 25 February p 8). Discussion with Manely Molpus, president of the Grocery Manufacturers Association will focus on nutritional labelling and health claims which are subject to new European draft legislation. The Commissioner will also have meetings with Food and Drugs Administration, Acting Commissioner, Lester Crawford and Health Deputy Secretary Claude Allen and Robert Zoellick, US representative for trade.
On Friday Commissioner Byrne will participate at a conference on "The Regulation of Food Safety and the use of traceabilty/tracing in the EU and the USA: convergence or divergence?" organised by the Atlantic Council and the European Policy Centre. The conference will focus on three cases studies: Biotechnology, BSE and Bio-terrorism.