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Argentine beef marks

two foot and

mouth-free years

BUENOS AIRES: Argentina will declare itself free of foot and mouth next month, after passing two years without any outbreaks of the cattle disease Saturday, the head of its animal health service said Friday.

"We are going to declare Argentina a foot and mouth-free zone at a date between May 15 and May 20 and then fight so that the whole world recognizes it," said Bernardo Cane, head of the government's National Animal Health Service, quoted by the state-owned Telam news agency.

Cane was speaking at a ceremony to mark the upcoming second anniversary of the last outbreak of the disease which kept Argentina sidelined from major meat markets for years.

The United States has already recognized Argentina's success in combating foot and mouth by awarding the country a 20,000-tonne annual export quota.

Argentina says it expects beef exports to double to around one million tonnes by the end of the century. The country is promoting its grass-fed meat as healthier and more natural than American or European beef.-Reuter