USDA Planned to Scale Back Mad Cow Testing?
Posted on March 16, 2006
MSNBC.com reports that the USDA has found that the Alabama cow that was discovered to be infected with mad cow was born before the feed ban was started in the U.S. The latest cow ist he third case in the U.S. The ten-year-old cow was born before a ban of certain types of feed was implemented in 1997. A calf belonging to the infected cow was quarantined.
The MSNBC.com article says Japanese consumers will become even more concerned about U.S. beef if the United States moves forward with plans to cut back on mad cow testing.
Scale back testing? If anything the U.S. should be increasing testing. The U.S. tests very few cattle compared to Japan. Only 1% percent of the 35 million cattle slaughtered in the U.S. each year are tested for mad cow. That's just a drop in the bucket. Japan tests ALL cattle aged 21 months and older according to MSNBC. There have now been three cases in the last three years. This means testing should be increased dramatically not reduced. With 3 recent confirmations there should be a massive search to find any remaining cows that are infected.