Company Wants To Test All Of Its Cows For Mad Cow; USDA Won't Let It

I find this a bit odd.A meat company that actually wants to test all of the cows it slaughters for BSE and the USDA doesn't want them too?

Creekstone Farms Premium Beef says it has Japanese customers who want comprehensive testing. The Agriculture Department threatened criminal prosecution if Creekstone did the tests, according to the company's lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Washington.

And to top that off the Dept. of Agriculture wants to reduce the already near nonexistent testing

Testing for mad cow disease in the United States is controlled by the department, which tests about 1 percent of the 35 million cattle, or about 350,000, that are slaughtered each year. The department is planning to reduce that level of testing.

350,000 cattle tested out of 35 million is not enough in my opinion.

There have been three cases of mad cow disease in the U.S. The first, in December 2003 in Washington state, was in a cow that had been imported from Canada. The second, last June, was in a Texas-born cow. The third was confirmed last week in an Alabama cow.
Japan has had two dozen cases of BSE.

I for one enjoy beef and would feel safer about eating it if more testing was done.The amount of testing Japan has done has turned out more cases of madcow than the US...I wonder just how many cases would be found in the US if there was more than 1% tested??

The reasoning behind not testing more?They are afraid that a suspect result might turn people away from beef
Could it be because they are really afraid of the amount of positive results they might get?

Comments?



OOPS forgot the link story can be found

Simon

Here

[edit on 23-3-2006 by Simon_Boudreaux]

[edit on 23-3-2006 by WyrdeOne]

Could i ask you please to supply a link for the source you are using,

Thanks
Asala,

Originally posted by asala
Could i ask you please to supply a link for the source you are using,

Thanks
Asala,

oops...edited an added link thank you for pointing that out Asala

I went ahead and edited your post, just to add the ex tags in place of quote tags.

Whenever you quote a source from outside ATS, the appropriate bb code is 'ex' instead of 'quote.'

So you know, for future reference.

Originally posted by WyrdeOne
I went ahead and edited your post, just to add the ex tags in place of quote tags.

Whenever you quote a source from outside ATS, the appropriate bb code is 'ex' instead of 'quote.'

So you know, for future reference.

Sorry been awhile since I've posted or started a thread....I'll remeber that thanks

So, how exactly can the USDA charge them for testing there cows, the cows they own, not the USDA?

Well, I'm just glad I don't eat beef anymore.

[edit on 3/23/2006 by iori_komei]

Moderated Sample

Originally posted by Simon_Boudreaux
Sorry been awhile since I've posted or started a thread....I'll remeber that thanks

Zounds! The mods are ganging up on you!

We've become a rabid pack of feral moderators due to the insidious poison of Asala's bite.

As for the topic (yes, I do have a comment on that), I definitely find it troubling that the USDA would actually threaten criminal prosecution for testing meat.

And why do they?

From the source article

Larger meatpackers worry that insistence from Japanese buyers would force them to do testing and that a suspect result might scare consumers away from eating beef.

There it is. That's the "crime".

Should it be a crime?





P.S. Great catch, Simon.

[edit on 3/23/2006 by Majic]

Originally posted by Majic
Zounds! The mods are ganging up on you!

We've become a rabid pack of feral moderators due to the insidious poison of Asala's bite.

Actually, the image of swarming flies comes to mind.

j/k

As for the topic:

I say start the testing by having the FDA personally sample (

Well, I'm just glad I don't eat beef anymore.

Count how many people in the US have died of MCD then count the number of people killed by lighting yearly in the US. My god, convert to a vegetarian for you are in serious danger!

Make what you will of the threat by the USDA but I am of the opinion that more test would do nothing but perhaps scare an already gullible crowd in the topic. If there really were a large number of cows in the US with MCD that were going unreported one would think that that by the elegant function of statistic more people would be suffering from MCD related illnesses?

Originally posted by WestPoint23

Well, I'm just glad I don't eat beef anymore.

Count how many people in the US have died of MCD then count the number of people killed by lighting yearly in the US. My god, convert to a vegetarian for you are in serious danger!

Make what you will of the threat by the USDA but I am of the opinion that more test would do nothing but perhaps scare an already gullible crowd in the topic. If there really were a large number of cows in the US with MCD that were going unreported one would think that that by the elegant function of statistic more people would be suffering from MCD related illnesses?

Well, I meant that this is just one more reason to add to the list I don't eat beef.

Also, I'm not a vegetarian, I just don't eat any meat source except chicken and sea creatures.

Also, I'm not a vegetarian, I just don't eat any meat source except chicken and sea creatures.

We all have our preference, I myself am more of a lamb type of guy, followed of course by the chicken.

Originally posted by Majic
I definitely find it troubling that the USDA would actually threaten criminal prosecution for testing meat.

And why do they?

Yeah... If there's nothing wrong, what are they worried about?

I eat beef, but it's grown locally, organically and with none of that pukey stuff they add to beef...

Originally posted by WestPoint23

Well, I'm just glad I don't eat beef anymore.

Count how many people in the US have died of MCD then count the number of people killed by lighting yearly in the US. My god, convert to a vegetarian for you are in serious danger!

Make what you will of the threat by the USDA but I am of the opinion that more test would do nothing but perhaps scare an already gullible crowd in the topic. If there really were a large number of cows in the US with MCD that were going unreported one would think that that by the elegant function of statistic more people would be suffering from MCD related illnesses?

So let me get this straight WestPoint, you do not believe in increasing test for MCD? So you would rather wait until a few people kill over from ingesting the tainted meat and then start more comprehensive testing procedures?

Here I thought that preemptive measures were going to be the norm in post 9/11 America! Stupid me, what was I thinking?

Cut back on eating brain stems and spinal cords and you should be relatively safe.

Sigh Ive said so much on the BSE issue in the past Im tired of typing it anymore.

I saw a commercial for Schnucks....or was it Shopn Save...um

Anyway they talked about USDA choice steaks....Now with the topic of this thread how do I know it's choice?Is that steak from the 1% that was tested? The 99% that wasn't?

Not gonna stop me from throwin one on the grill but kinda makes ya wonder doesn't it.


I wonder if the test shows results for more than just BSE?
Dulcimer you've said you did a bunch on BSE...any info on what the test shows or what the testing procedure is?



As for the mods gangin up on me...it's cool.nice an helpful...just the way we like y'all.....well the whole ex instead of quote bb code thingamajigger WyrdeOne mentioned threw me a curve but I'll figure it out.

Hope I didn't throw you for too much of a loop.

I think this is an important story. And remember, it's not just the meat we have to be concerned about, it's the milk, and last time I checked, pasteurization didn't have any effect on prions.

This is a serious story, and I have a feeling it's just the tip of a very dirty iceberg. :shk:

Department officials say they oppose 100 percent testing because it does not ensure food safety

Wow. I thought that maybe the company wanted to have the government pay for it and perform the tests or something, and that the gov was turning it down. But they are saying that they aren't permited to do their own tests????

I've been growingly concerned with BSE, especially with this new case. Its almost starting to look like its just out there in general, and occasionally detected, rather than occasionally popping up in animals.

I don't know if this is a purposeful conspiracy to cover up the disease's prevelance in the beef supply, or if its rather that beef industry lobbyists have pressured the government into not doing something that would be bad PR for the industry (without them actually knowing about any epidemic within the supply), but either way, it looks like something really fishy is going on here.

Couple that with the fact that it can take 30 years for the disease to become full blown and seriously symptomatic in humans, and you realize that, if these beef industry leaders are covering it up, they'l be long since retired or deceased before the public realizes what happened!

This is an important story - and an old fight. Creekstone has taken on the USDA before for the right to test their cows for Mad Cow disease - and lost.

Go Creekstone.

Wonder why the USDA doesn't want whole herds and "healthy" animals tested for Mad Cow? Same reason they don't test "healthy" chickens and whole flocks for H5N1 bird flu? ...Any bets?

LINK

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A livestock tracking system planned by the government will not include the age of animals, despite the key role age has played in mad cow disease investigations.

Agriculture Department officials say they don't want to overburden ranchers and can track most birth dates.

Critics said the omission could make the system worthless.

Having grown up on a farm, I don't understand why the government feels that this would "overburden" a farmer. If they are a smart business person, they would collect the information about a calf's birth anyway.

We used the information to keep in-breeding out of the operation.

The department promised to create the system after the nation's first case of mad cow disease two years ago and has already spent $84 million on it. Earlier this month, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns promised it would be in place by 2009.

Only the GOV could spend $84 million and take 5 years to implement a program. I realize that there will be a lot of data to store and sort, but I'm not sure we will be getting our money's worth out of this.

JDub

Seems to me most of the "regulations" are pretend-efforts - meant to reassure consumers, but not actually intended to be real.

From Reuters today:

One of the main safeguards against mad cow disease, a ban on using cattle parts in cattle feed, is ineffective or is not enforced strictly, two U.S. consumer groups said on Monday in light of a new case of the fatal bovine ailment in Canada. Both groups urged more stringent rules on the ingredients allowed in livestock feed and stronger enforcement of the existing feed ban.

Sorry - forgot to copy and paste the link when I filed it earlier.