Song in my head: Fitz brings the frog march again!!................by dood


Would You Like Your McBSE With Fries?


Summer time brings the opportunity to fire up the bbq and load up the grill with beef products. Is the government doing enough to protect our beef supply? Here's my latest collection of mad cow news. Many of these issues are addressed through articles from FSNet listserv, a food safety listserv, available by subscription and by my own news searches. I try and provide links to articles if they are given or if I can find them.

March 28, 2006

Mad cow

Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns was cited as saying Monday he wants to persuade Japan to resume U.S. beef shipments before deciding whether to scale back tests for mad cow disease.
Johanns and his staff have indicated they want to reduce the level of testing, which was ramped up after the first case of mad cow disease appeared in the United States. LINK


March 28, 2006

S.Korea seeks more U.S. data on latest mad cow case

South Korean agriculture officials were cited as saying on Tuesday that South Korea wants more data from the United States about its latest case of mad-cow disease but Seoul will still stick to its planned resumption of U.S. beef imports.
The agriculture ministry pushed back by a few weeks its planned date to resume imports of U.S. beef to late April or early May after Washington confirmed a new case of mad cow disease earlier this month. LINK


March 30, 2006

Patient sues Emory over mad cow risk

As one of more than 500 Emory University Hospital surgery patients potentially exposed in 2004 to a human form of mad cow disease, Henry County schoolteacher Tracy Price was cited as saying she lives each day in fear of losing her mind and her life to the fatal, brain-destroying disease, adding, "If I go into the kitchen and I forget what I went in there for, I think, 'Is this it?' The minute I forget something, I think, 'Is this the beginning of the one year I'm going to live?' " LINK


March 31, 2006

Cattle industry wants full US border opening

Stan Eby, president of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association, was cited as saying on Thursday that the cattle industry continues to push the United States to reopen its border to the import of Canadian animals over 30 months old, adding, "The U.S. has always been the volume market for the cull animals. We can process them here in Canada but we don't have the full competitive bidding that we see with the open border and that's where we want to get to. We're actively lobbying government to get this accomplished." LINK


April 3, 2006

BC-Beef-Panel

Half of the 12-member expert group involved in the assessment of the safety of U.S. beef were, according to this story, found to have resigned as the government announced the replacements of the six members Monday.
The story says that the six resigned members, including Tokyo Medical University Professor Kiyotoshi Kaneko and Kazuya Yamanouchi, a professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo, are thought to have a cautious stance on Japan's resumption of beef imports from the United States.
The research panel of the Food Safety Commission assessed the safety of U.S. beef before Japan's removal last December of a two-year-old import ban imposed after the discovery of the first case of mad cow disease in the United States. LINK


April 4, 2006

USDA: Allowing cattle tests is bad policy

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns was cited as saying Monday that the federal government can't let an Arkansas City company test its cattle for mad cow disease because doing so would be bad for international trade, adding, "If you're going to have a coherent system of trade in beef... you need to advance the cause of scientifically based international standards. There's no scientific justification" for why Creekstone FarmsPremium Beef, which owns a packing plant in Arkansas City, should test all its cattle for mad cow disease. LINK


April 6, 2006

Stop: Don't test those cows!

Late last month, according to this editorial, Creekstone Farms, a Kansas-based beef company, sued the United States Department of Agriculture because Creekstone wants to use tests for mad cow disease on all of the cattle it slaughters, and the U.S.D.A. won't let it.
In contrast, the U.S.D.A.'s testing program for mad cow disease tests only high-risk cattle — those that die on the farm, can't walk or are obviously sick. In other words, the department tests about 1 percent of the 35 million cattle that are slaughtered in this country every year. It believes, based on its statistical models, that testing 1 percent is plenty. The editorial says, we disagree.
Why would the U.S.D.A. stop a cattle company from voluntarily meeting a higher standard than the one required by law? The very idea sounds counterintuitive. But then so does the agency's rationale. The U.S.D.A. argues that 100 percent testing would not guarantee food safety because mad cow disease can be hard to detect in younger cattle — the very cows that a premium beef company like Creekstone is most likely to slaughter.
The editorial says that private testing is not the way to go in the long run. It wouldn't make much sense to have a national system made up of a few large producers that tested all their cattle while only 1 percent of everyone else's were tested.
But, the editorial says, U.S.D.A. should test every cow that goes to slaughter. The cost is not prohibitive. Fear is the problem. The current testing program for mad cow disease is intended to produce, at best, a snapshot of the likelihood of the disease. The program rests on assumptions that reflect, as assumptions tend to do, only what we know already, and we do not know nearly enough about mad cow disease. LINK


April 7, 2006

US-Beef

The Hong Kong government was cited as saying Friday bones were found in beef imports from the United States on Thursday by the airport inspection office and it has banned further imports from the company concerned.
Cargill Meat Solutions Corp. in Kansas State is the second U.S. beef exporter to be found shipping beef with bones intact to Hong Kong in a month.
Beef imported to Hong Kong from Swift Beef Co. in Colorado was also found with bones and a ban was imposed on that company March 10. LINK


April 7, 2006

Despite third mad cow, Administration promises still unkept

Despite the discovery of three cows infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, long overdue measures to ensure the safety of the food supply and to keep foreign markets open to American beef have been stalled, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). LINK


April 12, 2006

US-China

China was cited as agreeing Tuesday to lift its import ban on U.S. beef and step up measures to prevent piracy of computer programs and optical disks, and is planning to buy over $16 billion worth of U.S. goods to address the ballooning bilateral trade imbalance. LINK


April 12, 2006

Ireland changes BSE controls

The Irish government relaxes its policy on total depopulation when BSE is confirmed on a farm.Ireland’s agriculture ministry is to replace its policy of compulsory whole-herd slaughter, when bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) is confirmed in herds, with a partial depopulation plan. LINK


April 13, 2006

Routine surveillance uncovers additional case of BSE

Canada’s BSE surveillance program, which routinely tests animals exhibiting neurological symptoms or other signs of BSE, has uncovered what is likely an additional case of the disease in a dairy cow in British Columbia. Diagnosis of a few additional cases of BSE in Canada is not unexpected and should not impact current trade in beef or live cattle. LINK


April 13, 2006

Soil-bound prions that cause CWD remain infectious

Scientists have confirmed that prions, the mysterious proteins thought to cause chronic wasting disease (CWD) in deer, latch on tightly to certain minerals in soil and remain infectious.
The discovery that prions stay deadly despite sticking to soil comes as a surprise, because while many proteins can bind to soil, that binding usually changes their shapes and activities.
In a paper published in the journal PLoS Pathogens (April 14), scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison suggest that certain soil types serve as natural prion repositories in the wild. As animals regularly consume soil to meet their mineral needs, it's possible that prion-laden soil particles contribute to the transmission of prion disease such as CWD among animals.
CWD is a fatal, incurable condition that belongs to a family of prion-inflicted neurological disorders known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE). Other TSEs include "mad cow" disease, sheep scrapie and Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease in humans.
After a long incubation period, deer and elk infected with CWD suffer neurological and behavioral problems such as staggering, shaking, and excessive salivation and urination. Over time, the animals literally waste away, often dying in woods and fields. Originally detected in the 1960s in Colorado and Wyoming, CWD is now present in 14 states and two Canadian provinces. LINK


April 16, 2006

CFIA: final testing confirms BSE case in B.C.

Testing at the National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease in Winnipeg has confirmed bovine spongiform encephalopathy in a cow from British Columbia. As reported on April 13, 2006, samples from this animal were sent to Winnipeg for additional testing after screening tests produced inconclusive results.
This finding does not affect the safety of Canadian beef. Tissues in which BSE is known to concentrate in infected animals are removed from all cattle slaughtered in Canada for domestic and international human consumption. No part of this animal entered the human food or animal feed systems. LINK


April 17, 2006

Mad-cow firewall has gaps, US consumer groups say

7 Two U.S. consumer groups were cited as saying on Monday that in light of a new case of BSE in Canada that a ban on using cattle parts in cattle feed is ineffective or is not enforced strictly, and both groups urged more stringent rules on the ingredients allowed in livestock feed and stronger enforcement of the existing feed ban. LINK


April 18, 2006

Test shows Japan steer did not have BSE

A local government official was cited as saying on Tuesday that Japanese authorities have concluded that a 20-month-old steer suspected of having mad cow disease did not have the fatal brain-wasting illness, adding, "We received a report from the central government which says the animal did not have the disease." LINK


April 20, 2006

Japan confirms another BSE case

Japan on Wednesday confirmed a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in a 5-year-old Holstein.
The dairy cow, intended to be slaughtered for meat, was from Okayama prefecture in western Japan. The initial positive BSE test came late Monday.
Japan, which tests all cattle killed for meat for BSE, has confirmed 25 cases of the disease since 2001 and four this year. for more than $200 million in sales each year." LINK


April 20, 2006

Mad Cow-Canada

Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns was cited as saying Thursday during a news conference with Canada's new agriculture minister, Chuck Strahl, that the Bush administration wants to end remaining mad cow disease-related restrictions on Canadian cattle, despite two fresh cases there, adding, "I want to make sure it's done right, first and foremost. I want to make sure it will withstand not only our rigorous internal challenges but challenges that can come from court cases." LINK


April 21, 2006

Food for thought

Debra Probert, executive director, Vancouver Humane Society, writes that depending on industry and government assurances that Canadians don't have to worry about mad-cow disease in the future is short-sighted and dangerous (Mad-Cow Madness Suddenly Muted -- April 18).
Although surveillance testing has increased since 2003, the fact remains that less than 0.34 per cent of Canada's 17.2 million cattle and calves were tested in 2005. That, and the fact that cattle remains and blood are still fed to animals used for food in spite of scientists calling for a complete ban on the use of slaughterhouse waste, should terrify anyone who continues to ingest any meat product in this country. LINK


April 29, 2006

Government: only 4 to 7 cows have mad cow

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns was cited as saying there are probably a few undetected cases of mad cow disease in the United States, but the total -- estimated at four to seven -- is "extraordinarily low," based on new testing data released Friday.
Johanns was further cited as saying that testing is likely to be scaled back after a panel of independent scientists reviews the figures, adding, "The data shows the prevalence of BSE in the United States is extraordinarily low. In other words, we have an extremely healthy herd of cattle in our country."
The story adds that the first case, a Canadian cow found in Washington state, is not included in the testing analysis. Including that animal would have revised the estimate of infected cows upward to five to 11 nationwide. LINK


April 29, 2006

Mad cow linked to 23 cattle: several mad cow cases undetected in U.S.

Another 23 cattle may have been exposed to the same feed as a B.C. cow that tested positive for mad cow disease and have been quarantined and will be tested. LINK


May 1, 2006

South Korea set to resume U.S. beef imports by early June

A South Korean technical team has confirmed that the latest American case of BSE occurred in a cow born before the feed ban, clearing the way for U.S. boneless beef imports to resume by early June. LINK

May 3, 2006

Documents reveal 14 countries received British blood products with vCJD risk

Fourteen countries received British blood products exported during the 1990s that could be tainted with the prion that causes variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the human form of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, according to documents obtained by The Guardian newspaper. LINK


May 4, 2006

Mad-cow case frustrates officials

Government regulators closed a mad-cow-disease case in Alabama without learning the animal's origins and said that their fruitless search highlights the need for a proposed national livestock identification program.
Ron Sparks, commissioner of the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries, was quoted as saying, "If we had been dealing with a highly-contagious disease, we wouldn't have reacted quickly enough." LINK


May 8, 2006

Editorial: Mad cow testing dispute features some crazy bureaucratic logic

A ranching and meat-processing company in Kansas wants, according to this editorial, to test all its cattle for mad cow disease at its own expense.
The Bush administration won't let the firm do it. Oh, but that's not all. If the company tries to buy the $20 testing kits, the feds will treat such a transaction as an illegal purchase of a controlled substance.
The editorial says that in 1913, when cholera was decimating hog herds, scam artists were selling fake serums to farmers. Congress responded with the Viruses, Serums, Toxins, Anti-Toxins and Analogous Products Act. It gave the federal government authority to regulate diagnostic testing devices for farm animals. LINK


May 13, 2006

Japan Confirms 26th Mad Cow Disease Case

Japan has confirmed its 26th case of mad cow disease, this one in a 5-year-old Holstein in the country's north, the Agriculture Ministry said Saturday.
Meat inspectors in the northern state of Hokkaido found Thursday that a dairy cow tested positive for the disease, the ministry said in a statement. A panel of Agriculture Ministry experts confirmed the infection Saturday, according to ministry official Akiko Suzuki. LINK


May 13, 2006

Austria confirms fourth case of mad cow disease

Health Minister Maria Rauch-Kallat was cited as saying that Austri had confirmed Saturday it had found a fourth case of mad cow disease, this time in the northern province of Upper Austria. LINK


May 15, 2006

Via Common Dreams....

As "mad cow" disease spreads outward from Britain, a silent epidemic of carriers in humans has begun to emerge.

The bad news came with the death of an elderly patient in Britain two years ago. While seemingly unremarkable, this was automatically the subject of an autopsy because the patient had a blood transfusion in 1999 from a donor who had died later from the human form of mad cow disease: variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD).