MAD COW NEWS

Meat inspectors seize huge haul of US beef China has confiscated 186 tons of American beef products in Beijing amid fears the meat could be contaminated with mad cow disease, state media reported on Friday. The Beijing Youth Daily said the beef, seized Thursday, will be disposed off after being examined on advice from the ministry of agriculture...Bush tells Americans to keep eating beef U.S. President George W. Bush shot quail on a hunting trip yesterday but ate beef and encouraged Americans to do the same despite concern over mad cow disease. The president said Americans should feel comfortable eating beef while Agriculture Department officials try to prevent any mad cow outbreak in the wake of the discovery of an infected Holstein in Washington state...Two countries, one market for cattle trade Free trade has made cattle, beef products and livestock feed almost indistinguishable in Canada and the United States, never mind the finger-pointing in this latest mad-cow scare. That's the message Canadian cattle producers, politicians and investigators issued after a case of mad-cow disease was discovered last week in a Washington State animal with ties to an Alberta dairy farm. In May, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, better known as BSE or mad-cow disease, was diagnosed in a slaughtered cow in Alberta...Variety meats niche hit hard by beef ban Oregon cattleman Mike Partlow built a business selling beef products that Americans don’t eat, from hooves to femur bones to stomach lining, all prized by Asian chefs. Korean cooks slice steamed hooves into wafers for a meaty, gelatinous soup. Bits of large intestine go on the grill in Japan. After the discovery of mad cow disease in an American cow last week, this $600 million market — and Partlow’s business selling so-called variety meats — has vanished, and will not return until export markets reopen...Electronic tag system for cattle on fast track Use of electronic ear tags could have made short work of the intense hunt for the rest of the herd that entered the United States in 2001 along with the Washington dairy cow infected with mad-cow disease. Such tags, which an industry expert says would cost $5 to $15 apiece, are part of a proposed national animal-identification system that was put on the fast track Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The beef industry had opposed the national tracking system on grounds it could expose farmers and ranchers to lawsuits over tainted food...Beef tallow in fries raises fears among foreign buyers Fallout from the mad-cow scare in Washington state has hit the potato industry, with more than $500,000 worth of frozen French fries — prefried in beef tallow — held in limbo at ports. The delay raises concerns that other exports containing beef products could be affected by the bans countries have imposed on U.S. beef because of mad-cow disease...Chick-fil-A plans to corral bovines for now Chick-fil-A is postponing its latest advertising featuring those iconic bovines to avoid appearing insensitive to concerns about the first U.S. case of mad cow disease. The Atlanta-based restaurant chain had planned to unveil a new round of in-store and direct-mail advertising this month. In addition to shelving that campaign, the company will examine existing advertising, including a billboard in which a cow -- its eyes in a vertigo swirl -- tries to hypnotize motorists to eat chicken...Cattlemen closely monitor feed Feedlot operator Buck Peddicord knows his success depends on the health of the beef cattle being fattened in his pens. Peddicord and other cattle producers say they never would consider violating a 1997 Food and Drug Administration ban on feeding cattle parts back to cattle, a ban enacted to guard against the possible spread of mad cow disease. Feedlot operators submit to random inspections, and many sign affidavits required by buyers that none of their animals was fed beef bone meal. Doing otherwise, they say, would risk disaster... Editorial: Bans on U.S. beef shouldn't last for long The list of countries that have banned U.S. beef because of a case of mad cow disease in a Washington state cow has grown to 36. It's disheartening to say the least to U.S. cattle producers who produce the best beef in the world. Those export markets are important in expanding demand and raising the price for their product. The bans, however, should be put in perspective. These countries are only reacting in the same way the U.S. has in the past. It was just last year that Canadian beef was banned from the U.S. because of a mad cow case there. Furthermore, these prohibitions aren't likely to last long. As long as this case remains isolated, the world again will be convinced of the safety of American beef. This will be further re-enforced as the U.S. takes more steps to protect its meat supply...Mad cow case not creating vegetarian rush Droves of Britons gave up meat during England's mad cow outbreak in the 1980s, but since the discovery of an infected cow in Washington state American vegetarians mostly have trod carefully, trying not to take advantage of a situation that could cost lives and cripple a $40 billion industry... Ex-Cattleman's Warning Was No Bum Steer There's a stereotype about vegans. That they're zealots, loud-mouthed people who throw blood on meat-fattened CEOs, who ridicule people who wear leather shoelaces, who corner you at parties and assault you with diatribes about cruelty. Howard Lyman, 65, is not like that. For 40 years, he raised cattle on his family ranch in Montana, where steak and hamburger were regular courses. Then one day he quit. A tumor in his spinal column helped him make the decision. Meat, he was convinced, was killing him. And beyond that, he began to believe that meat, as it is produced today, is snuffing out small farms and possibly even opening the door to strange and terrifying diseases...Ban on 'downers' could change way cattle are raised The government's ban on the use of so-called downer cattle in the nation's food supply may force changes in the way cattle — especially dairy cows — are treated, animal experts say. Chandler Keys of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association says the 150,000 to 200,000 downers a year are a fraction of the 35 million U.S. cattle slaughtered each year. But animal experts say the ban will force changes in the industry. Temple Grandin, professor of animal science at Colorado State University, believes 90% of downer cases are preventable...Where the Cows Come Home Farm Sanctuary, which runs Web sites like SentientBeings.org, NoDowners.org, NoVeal.org, BanCruelFarms.org and AdoptATurkey.org, has been pressuring the government since 1998 to halt the use of sick and injured cows as food, arguing that they are "adulterated" and therefore illegal in interstate commerce under the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act. Until Tuesday, the Department of Agriculture had disagreed, arguing that not all meat from a sick cow is adulterated and that approving such cattle was long-established practice. It denied Farm Sanctuary's petition in 1999 and fought its subsequent lawsuit...Column: The Cow Jumped Over the U.S.D.A. Alisa Harrison has worked tirelessly the last two weeks to spread the message that bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, is not a risk to American consumers. As spokeswoman for Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman, Ms. Harrison has helped guide news coverage of the mad cow crisis, issuing statements, managing press conferences and reassuring the world that American beef is safe. For her, it's a familiar message. Before joining the department, Ms. Harrison was director of public relations for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, the beef industry's largest trade group, where she battled government food safety efforts, criticized Oprah Winfrey for raising health questions about American hamburgers, and sent out press releases with titles like "Mad Cow Disease Not a Problem in the U.S." Ms. Harrison may well be a decent and sincere person who feels she has the public's best interest at heart. Nonetheless, her effortless transition from the cattlemen's lobby to the Agriculture Department is a fine symbol of all that is wrong with America's food safety system. Right now you'd have a hard time finding a federal agency more completely dominated by the industry it was created to regulate. Dale Moore, Ms. Veneman's chief of staff, was previously the chief lobbyist for the cattlemen's association. Other veterans of that group have high-ranking jobs at the department, as do former meat-packing executives and a former president of the National Pork Producers Council...Officials Destroying Calves, Including That of Sick Cow As federal investigators search for cows that were imported from Canada with the cow that was found to have the nation's first known case of mad cow disease, Washington State officials have begun a process that will kill the offspring of the sick cow. The cow, which was sent from a dairy farm in Mabton, Wash., and slaughtered on Dec. 9, gave birth to a bull calf shortly before slaughter. That calf was sent to a feedlot in Sunnyside, about 10 miles north of the Mabton ranch, but because officials cannot pinpoint the calf, they plan to kill all bull calves in the feedlot herd of 464 that are under 30 days old, the same age as the sick cow's offspring, said Linda Waring, a spokeswoman for the state's Department of Agriculture...Mad cow's brain-wasting course inspires fear No longer can experts reassure us with absolute certainty that American beef won't expose people to the human version of mad cow disease, now that an infected cow has turned up here. While odds remain remote - only 153 people in Europe have contracted the disease since it appeared in 1995 - it is not the numbers that terrify people but the harrowing trajectory of the disease, the way it eats away at the brain...Animal rights group demonstrates They weren't the two most popular people standing along Lincolnway on Wednesday, but they didn't seem to mind. Two workers for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) stood outside the Hitching Post Inn, home of the Cheyenne Cattle Company restaurant, during the lunch hour to protest practices of the meat industry. While Ravi Chand answered people's questions and distributed "vegetarian starter kit" brochures, Katy Fritts had a less labor-intensive job. Fritts, wearing a cow costume, stood on the side of the road for an hour holding a sign that read, "It's Mad to Eat Meat: Go Veg!"...Sebelius enlists other governors in pro-beef campaign Gov. Kathleen Sebelius is soliciting help from other states' chief executives for a public campaign to reassure consumers that beef is safe to eat, notwithstanding the first-ever American case of mad cow disease. Sebelius said Wednesday governors, or their representatives, in Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Texas have agreed to participate...Edmonton plant may have provided contaminated feed to U-S mad cow The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says media reports linking a Canadian rendering plant to the first U-S case of mad cow disease are "premature." In a statement, the agency says it's examining feed purchasing, production and distribution records. But officials add that many feed mills draw material from the same plants. The Edmonton Journal reports Canadian food safety investigators have established a tentative link between Northern Alberta Processing and the infected Holstein found on a Washington state farm. The plant may have provided contaminated materials for the Alberta farm where officials believe the cow was born...B.C.-owned feed plant probed for link to mad cow A Vancouver-owned rendering plant located in Edmonton and suspected of being linked to North America's two cases of mad cow disease was criticized in 2003 by Canadian inspectors for not labelling its animal feed properly, according to documents obtained by The Vancouver Sun...Senator sees hope for meat labeling The case of mad cow disease in Washington state might prompt congressional opponents of country-of-origin labeling to rethink their position when Congress resumes work on Jan. 20, said Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., a leading proponent of the labeling requirement. The mad cow scare, which has resulted in the shutdown of nearly all U.S. beef exports, should reverse opposition to mandatory labeling, Johnson said Wednesday. ''But whether it does or not, of course, remains to be seen,'' he said...