THE US agriculture department has eased restrictions on imports of South African beef and lamb, but not if they include meat from neighbouring countries such as Botswana and Namibia. The Business Day reports the US now considers SA free of both rinderpest – the last diagnosed case was in 1903 – and, excluding Kruger National Park and other border areas, foot and mouth disease, according to a notice published in the federal register, the US government gazette. The decision opens the way for SA meat processors to export beef and lamb to the US, but not pork, which will continue to be barred because of fears it may carry hog cholera, swine vesicular disease and African swine fever, the paper says.