USDA says 'no, you can't do your own testing for Mad Cow Disease'
After today's announcement that the USDA is forcing the recall of 143 million pounds of beef, I went poking around. Why don't we test 100% of our cattle for Mad Cow Disease? Japan does. There is a slaughter house here in the US called Creekstone Farms that wants to sell their beef to Japan. As such, they want to do the testing required by the Japanese consumers. But they can't. According to this article originally printed in the Washington Post (the article seems to have expired from their official web site), the USDA said that they could NOT do the testing. It's not that they were trying to do it improperly. It's that the National Cattlemen's Beef Association was afraid that it would become a domestic and international standard for all beef!
On March 29, 2007 (my birthday!) the US District Court for the District of Columbia concluded that it is unlawful for the USDA to prevent Creekstone from testing its cattle for BSE. Of course, the USDA appealed that decision.
It appears to me that it is just a matter of time before this test becomes mandatory, either domestically, internationally, or both. The later this test happens, the more cases of BSE we might have to confirm. If they start the testing now I'm sure they'll likely find some. If they start the testing in a few years from now, they'll likely find more. After all, it's a disease. Diseases spread. Either that or they are trying to silently clean up the herd before testing begins. How likely is that?
