The European Commission hit out at the US for its sweeping ban on EU livestock and raw meat products, as the world scrambled to contain the spread of foot-and-mouth disease.
"I will say that we consider it not proportionate," Commission health and consumer affairs spokeswoman Ms Beate Gminder said when asked if the EU's executive branch considered the US ban to be "excessive".
"We recognise, of course, there are causes for concern" in third countries, Ms Gminder said.
But she argued that import bans ought to target livestock and products from those areas within EU member states which have confirmed foot-and-mouth outbreaks and not the 15-nation EU as a whole.
"This principle of regionalisation is widely, widely accepted by our international partners," Ms Gminder said.
"Additionally, the level of vigilance and surveillance in the EU is extremely high," she said. "We have felt that we have done everything, and put everything in place, that is necessary to combat the disease.
"Therefore, we would think that third countries' measures should be proportionate," she said, adding that Brussels was "assessing what the various bans imply for the EU".
Australia, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong, New Zealand and the United States were among the first to react to news yesterday the foot-and-mouth outbreak, first recorded in Britain three weeks ago, had spread to France.
The EU-US trade and investment relationship is one of the biggest in the world, according to US data.
AFP