It was good that a U.S. district judge ruled that Creekstone Farms Premium Beef, based in Arkansas City, has the right to test its cattle for mad cow disease. The meatpacking company intends to test all its cattle in order to meet the stringent rules for the lucrative markets of Japan and South Korea.
The USDA currently requires only 1 percent of cattle to be tested and didn’t want Creekstone going beyond that. The USDA’s argument was that if Creekstone Farms raised its standards, other meatpackers might be pressured into raising theirs — an expensive endeavor that, it argues, wouldn’t increase food safety. There was also some concern about the possibility of a lot of false-positive test results, which could rattle the markets.
But isn’t not allow Creekstone to test analogous to the federal government preventing car manufacturers from installing additional air bags or other safety measures, above and beyond the requirements, because other car manufacturers might feel pressured to do so?
The USDA has until June 1 to appeal the decision.
Posted by Patrice Hein
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11 Comments
Yes when I first heard of this I thought it was so silly and the USDA reaction was moronic to say the least. It reminded me of the Congressman (So long ago I forget his name) that wanted to stop the sale and Manufacturing of SUV because in a crash the driver of the SUV were more likely to suffer over the drivers of the cheaply made car that was also involved in the crash.
How about we address the real reason that the USDA is afraid of the testing….because it is far more likely that we’ve had more cases than we could have ever thought of.
The USDA has taken a myopic position that defies logic and their own statements and practices confirm how intransigent a bureaucracy can become.
If the tests approved and used by the USDA cannot find any prions in cattle under 30 months old, because the prions are undetectable at that or earlier stages; the test prove nothing. The act of testing proves that nothing can be found and the Japanese will pay for that test on all beef imported. The USDA and the Japanese have agreed to import only beef well under the age of 30 months without being tested, but the Japanese will eagerly accept tested beef under 30 months that has been certified as being tested. And the Japanese will pay the surcharge for that testing. And the cost will add less than $0.10 per lb to the beef imported.
The USDA has cost FOREVER the beef industry over $3 billion in lost sales and their “stupidity” continues. Maybe the judge’s decision will stand and Creekstone will start recapturing lost markets so carefully built over the years.
Thanks for the explanation Henry.
Hey, if one company provides safe beef for its consumers then so many others will want to. We can’t have that. Let’s keep on selling the tainted stuff because, after all, it’s just people who will be affected.
Do the owners of the dirty plants eat their own products?
Having the USDA implement these substandard standards is just another example of the conservative mindset. If people know what crap they are consuming then they’ll demand better quality. If that happens the companies will have to spend more money and it might cut into their prophets. Funny how things haven’t changed since “The Jungle” was published.
I wonder how much of the decision by the USDA was influenced by the Ranchers Lobby?
I don’t think meat packers had any problem testing, but Ranchers were scared that if a test showed problems on a particular cattle from a particular ranch, that could spell trouble for that Rancher.
Follow the lobby money!
I would say it is time to restructure the USDA dept.
We can downsize it and maybe outsource it to a foreign country using cheap labor or bring in illegal immigrants; pay cheap wages under the table, avoiding the insurances, taxes, employee’s benefits and retirement plans.
Join globalization; cheapen our lifestyle, our culture and society, further the gaps of social classes, destroy democracy and bring back the days of tyrannical monarchy.
I just wonder how many downer cattle will be taken out to some remote corner of the property and shot and left there to be eaten by other animals-instead of tested.
THE FDA SHOUD just relax< CREEKSSTONE could constitute the 1 percent testing the FDA requires.
YES….and I for one would like to buy a car without airbags
10,000,000+ LBS. of PROHIBITED BANNED MAD COW FEED I.E. MBM IN COMMERCE USA 2007
Date: March 21, 2007 at 2:27 pm PSTRECALLS AND FIELD CORRECTIONS: VETERINARY MEDICINES — CLASS II___________________________________PRODUCTBulk cattle feed made with recalled Darling’s 85% Blood Meal, Flash Dried, Recall # V-024-2007CODECattle feed delivered between 01/12/2007 and 01/26/2007RECALLING FIRM/MANUFACTURERPfeiffer, Arno, Inc, Greenbush, WI. by conversation on February 5, 2007. Firm initiated recall is ongoing.REASONBlood meal used to make cattle feed was recalled because it was cross-contaminated with prohibited bovine meat and bone meal that had been manufactured on common equipment and labeling did not bear cautionary BSE statement.VOLUME OF PRODUCT IN COMMERCE42,090 lbs.DISTRIBUTIONWI
___________________________________PRODUCTCustom dairy premix products: MNM ALL PURPOSE Pellet, HILLSIDE/CDL Prot-Buffer Meal, LEE, M.-CLOSE UP PX Pellet, HIGH DESERT/ GHC LACT Meal, TATARKA, M CUST PROT Meal, SUNRIDGE/CDL PROTEIN Blend, LOURENZO, K PVM DAIRY Meal, DOUBLE B DAIRY/GHC LAC Mineral, WEST PIONT/GHC CLOSEUP Mineral, WEST POINT/GHC LACT Meal, JENKS, J/COMPASS PROTEIN Meal, COPPINI – 8# SPECIAL DAIRY Mix, GULICK, L-LACT Meal (Bulk), TRIPLE J – PROTEIN/LACTATION, ROCK CREEK/GHC MILK Mineral, BETTENCOURT/GHC S.SIDE MK-MN, BETTENCOURT #1/GHC MILK MINR, V&C DAIRY/GHC LACT Meal, VEENSTRA, F/GHC LACT Meal, SMUTNY, A-BYPASS ML W/SMARTA, Recall # V-025-2007CODEThe firm does not utilize a code – only shipping documentation with commodity and weights identified.RECALLING FIRM/MANUFACTURERRangen, Inc, Buhl, ID, by letters on February 13 and 14, 2007. Firm initiated recall is complete.REASONProducts manufactured from bulk feed containing blood meal that was cross contaminated with prohibited meat and bone meal and the labeling did not bear cautionary BSE statement.VOLUME OF PRODUCT IN COMMERCE9,997,976 lbs.DISTRIBUTIONID and NV
END OF ENFORCEMENT REPORT FOR MARCH 21, 2007
IT”S great news that the courts overruled usda no mad cow testing. IT was nothing but big industry policy not to allow them to test. with that said, mad cow testing whether by creekstone, tyson, or anybody else must be done correctly, with proper most up to date and sensitive validated testing, most up to date lab, and first and foremost, they must be upfront with the public. they must report in a timely manner every mad cow that is found. the USA is in a most unique situation, the USA has the most documented TSE in different species than any other country in the world, most of which all have been rendered and fed back to animals for human and animal consumption. OH, one more thing, there are now two different strains of mad cow disease in the USA, you have the BSE mad cow that is tied to humans as nvCJD. YOU also have the BASE mad cow that is tied to sporadic CJD in humans. there is also growing evidence that there are more strains of TSE in deer and elk than the typical CWD. THE USA has also recently it’s first case of atypical TSE in the sheep i.e. NOR98 and should be officially announced in the monthly scrapie report for Feb. all in all, there is much more to this mad cow story, than meats the eye, and that would be the surgical and medical arena. but that’s another story. i have wasted almost 10 years daily trying to warn the public on this topic. i lost my mother to the Heidenhain Variant of Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease, confirmed. just another name for the same disease. …TSS
USA MAD COW STRAIN MORE VIRULENT TO HUMANS THAN UK STRAIN18 January 2007 – Draft minutes of the SEAC 95 meeting (426 KB) held on 7December 2006 are now available.
snip…64. A member noted that at the recent Neuroprion meeting, a study waspresented showing that in transgenic mice BSE passaged in sheep may be morevirulent and infectious to a wider range of species than bovine derived BSE.Other work presented suggested that BSE and bovine amyloidotic spongiformencephalopathy (BASE) MAY BE RELATED. A mutation had been identified in theprion protein gene in an AMERICAN BASE CASE THAT WAS SIMILAR IN NATURE TO AMUTATION FOUND IN CASES OF SPORADIC CJD.
snip…
There is a growing number of human CJD cases, and they were presented lastweek in San Francisco by Luigi Gambatti(?) from his CJD surveillancecollection.He estimates that it may be up to 14 or 15 persons which display selectivelySPRPSC and practically no detected RPRPSC proteins.
snip…end…TSS