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Bush administration fights testing for mad cow disease

There have been three cases of mad cow disease in the USA. The first, in December 2003 in Washington state, was in a cow that had been imported from Canada. The second, in 2005, was in a Texas-born cow. The third was confirmed last year in an Alabama cow. The U.S. Agriculture Department currently tests less than one percent of slaughtered cows for the disease, which can be fatal to humans who eat tainted beef. But Kansas-based meat packing firm Creekstone Farms Premium Beef wants to test all of its cows. Larger meat companies feared that move because, if Creekstone tested its meat and advertised it as safe, they might have to perform the expensive test, too. A U.S. federal judge ruled in March that such tests must be allowed. The ruling was to take effect from June 1, but the Agriculture Department says it will appeal, delaying testing until the court challenge is settled.

So in the USA, if you have TB you get locked up, but if you want to improve food safety …

O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 30th, 2007 at 1:07 pm and is filed under Agriculture, Health, Microbiology, Prions, Science. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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