Foot and mouth disease in South America fails to disrupt export operations Importers are confident there will be no disruption to supplies following the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the south of Brazil. In spite of stringent border controls overseen by the Army, FMD broke out in the south of the country. Sources in Sao Paolo confirm that the outbreak has been contained and there is no threat to the major central cattle area, which supplies the bulk of cattle to the frigorificos, which pack corned beef and stewed steak for the export market. Prices have not been affected. Meanwhile, sales of corned beef have been on the increase recently in spite of low promotional instore activity. Some evidence of consumers using the product in high protein diets, which have been publicised in press articles, seems to account for the trend. Normally, canned fish with high oil content dominates the recipes, but, with more reduced fat' corned beef being listed, it offers an alternative which consumers have taken up. One of the disadvantages of corned beef remains the traditional key opening can, so often cited as the next biggest hazard after sardines. Various attempts have been made to offer a ringpull pack but each seems to have failed to achieve consumer acceptance, mainly due to the problem of extracting the product in a simple way after opening. The cans tried so far have incorporated a lip' which remains after the lid is taken off, causing an obstructionto the extraction of the contents. {{M/E CANNED GOODS }}

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