NEWS: Tracking the Mad Cow Herd

At least 110 cows considered at risk for mad cow disease, most likely entered the food chain for human consumption.

That is the latest from federal agricultural officials over the weekend. "There is probably no risk from these cows - but they may be in the food supply," said Madelaine Fletcher, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

Seattle PI: seattlepi.nwsource.com

It seems the local people around the farms and ranches where the cow came from, are just as upset. With the country nervous the locals around Mabton, Washington are more worried about a hardship to the beef industry. Steve Erickson, president of the Washington Cattlefeeders Association, flipped burgers at the rally and defended his industry.

"There are many obstacles you can't always control, but we feel we have a nutritious, healthy product, and what we're fighting is emotional perception," Erickson said. "The American beef supply is the safest in the world."

Seattle PI: seattlepi.nwsource.com

The Latest Numbers:
In 2001, 81 cattle were imported to Washington state from Alberta, Canada. One of those cows tested positive for BSE. Know they could have shared contaminated feed when they were young, the USDA has been tracking...

81 IMPORTED
10 MABTON FARM (including the one known to be infected with BSE)
7 QUINCY FARM (possible cows from the import, USDA checking)
2 MATTAWA (at a finishing farm here)
62 MISSING (remain unaccounted for)

The MABTON Breakdown:
258 cows on Mabton Farm are identified as "at risk".
129 of those to be euthanised over the next week.
110 were at some point culled from the farm, officials are trying to figure out where they are and if the entered the food.
19 should be on the farm, but aren't. There are no records either.

On the Sunnyside Farm near the Oregon border, 450 cows euthanised and buried in a landfill, because one of the infected cows calves was there, but did not have a ID tag on it's ear. The whole herd had to be killed.

Needless to say, better tracking methods and record keeping need to be put in place.

Comments?





[Edited on 12-1-2004 by SkepticOverlord]

What's interesting, is John Titor warned about a mad cow epidemic. Could this be the start? So far his credibility hasn't been seriously injured by anything I've come across (or that I know of). We'll see what happens.

Then you clearly havent spent much time looking lilblam, go search the S&T forum. Perhaps starting with the forum library.

Hahaha. I love how John Titor comes into everything. To bad he didn't make any stock market predictions.

One question I'd like to know is this:

Sure, the damned cows came from Canada, but weren't they feed illegal feed here, in America? How often do they check that feed and who does it, by whose funding, as well? That's some investigative work I'd like to see...

How about this?
Investigation with Public Record of the FDA...

May 2003 the FDA knew about possible contamination in the US pet food supply. "FDA notified the U.S. pet food firm, The Pet Pantry International, of Carson City, Nevada, when FDA learned that the pet food that the firm received may have included rendered material from the BSE positive cow." Dogs are not thought to get the disease.

FDA Link: www.fda.gov...

In July 2003 the FDA caught a US feed lot breaking the rules. These rules are designed to stop the spread of BSE in cows, but can the FDA stop the lure to break such rules? Money.

"The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced the filing of a Consent Decree of Permanent Injunction against X-Cel, Feeds Inc., and individual officers based on violations of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. In the Consent Decree, the Firm and officers admitted liability for introducing adulterated and misbranded animal feeds into interstate commerce and agreed to implement measures to correct the violations under FDA's supervision.

X-Cel, a feed manufacturer headquartered in Tacoma, Washington, failed to comply with FDA regulations (the 1997 Animal Feed Rule) designed to prevent the establishment and spread of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE, also known as "Mad Cow Disease") should it ever be found in the United States and FDA regulations concerning the manufacture of medicated feeds."

FDA Link: www.fda.gov...

Here is a January 2001 article about a Texas feed lot. So, to all of you out there...it IS public record and has been floating around for sometime. It was bound to strike on the US soil. We were just asking for it.

Personally I don't eat BEEF or PORK, (this just helps reinforce my beliefs)

But I have warned all my beef eating friends and relatives to try to stay away from consuming it until definitive proof as to the status and the whereabouts of those possibly contaminated cows are.

thanks for bringing this article up ZeddicusZulZorander.

1. Keep Titor out of this forum, any posts containing "titor said" will be deleted as of now.

Well done Mr Zoll..Roll... err.. Mr Author

We had this problem in the UK and it gets out of hand very quickly, however its mainly psychological.

Bah... who needs beef.