US Mad Cow Test Procedure Violated in Texas-USDA

Federal inspectors failed to perform a required mad cow disease test on a suspicious animal in Texas, the U.S. Agriculture Department said on Monday, just as the Bush administration is pushing to reopen world markets to U.S. beef.

Federal inspectors failed to perform a required mad cow disease test on a suspicious animal in Texas, the U.S. Agriculture Department said on Monday, just as the Bush administration is pushing to reopen world markets to U.S. beef.The crippled animal slipped through the USDA’s mad cow testing regime at a time when the government is trying to convince Japan and other nations that it has imposed enough safeguards to protect the food supply. The cow at a Lone Star Beef plant in San Angelo, Texas, was condemned on April 27 after a federal veterinarian “observed the cow stagger and fall,” according to a USDA statement. But instead of holding the cow for testing, the carcass was sent to rendering, without being tested for the brain-wasting disease. Meat from the animal did not enter the human food chain, according to USDA. “Standard procedures call for animals condemned due to possible CNS (central nervous system) disorder to be kept” until federal officials collect brain tissue for testing, the USDA said. “However, this did not occur in this case.” The USDA said it was investigating the reason. USDA officials and veterinarians have stressed that a cow could stagger and fall because of a broken bone or other illnesses, not just because of mad cow disease. JAPAN WANTS ALL US COWS TESTED The problem in Texas comes four months after the United States found its first case of mad cow disease in a Canadian-born cow slaughtered in Washington state. That case abruptly halted nearly $4 billion worth of U.S. beef shipments. While Mexico, a huge buyer of American beef, has lifted some of its import restrictions, Japan, the largest foreign importer, has refused to ease its total trade ban. Japan has insisted that it wants all U.S. cattle tested for the disease. But USDA and U.S. meat industry officials argue there is no scientific justification for testing all cattle. Lone Star Beef said in a statement that it was “instructed by the USDA to dispose of the animal” and immediately sent the suspicious cow to rendering. At Lone Star Beef, food safety is our top priority at all times,” the company said. “We are cooperating with federal officials as they review this situation.” Under stricter regulations adopted by the USDA since the first case of U.S. mad cow disease was found, no crippled or “downer” cattle can be processed into human food. The animals can still be rendered or processed at high temperatures to make bone meal, soap, cosmetics and other industrial products. A spokeswoman for the American Meat Institute said the group was “glad the animal was kept out of the food supply,” but she did not know why the necessary testing was not done. Mad cow disease has been linked to a variant human disease responsible for at least 140 deaths, mostly in Europe. A spokesman for the Denver-based U.S. Meat Export Federation, said the problem in Texas “adds a new wrinkle” to beef trade negotiations with Tokyo that are getting underway. Last week, USDA officials said they hoped Japan, a $1.4 billion market for American beef, would relax its trade ban by the end of summer. Foreign importers and retailers have demanded more details on the Texas incident, the federation spokesman said. The cow in Texas fell through the USDA’s safety net as the government expands efforts to find out if the Washington state cow was an exception or marked a bigger mad cow problem. Last year, USDA tested only 20,000 cattle for mad cow disease, a level criticized by consumer groups as inadequate, out of about 36 million slaughtered. For an 18 month period starting in June, USDA aims to test at least 200,000 cattle. “This is deeply troubling, that USDA is not testing the cattle showing signs of central nervous system disease. These are exactly the cattle that are at highest risk of actually having BSE,” said Caroline Smith DeWaal, food safety expert with the Center for Science in the Public Interest. USDA investigators and a congressional committee are conducting separate probes into whether the Washington state cow was a downer, as USDA claimed on Dec. 23. (Source: Reuters Health, May 2004)