MAD COW NEWS

U.S. cattle boss urges speed: Jim McAdams said the U.S. should set an example and open its borders to Canada The U.S. will have a tough time getting other countries to open their borders to its beef if it doesn't do the same for Canada, warns the incoming president of the U.S. National Cattlemen's Beef Association. "We'll have a difficult time getting the world to open borders to us while we have it closed to y'all," Jim McAdams told more than 400 producers and feed industry representatives at a London convention. The Ontario Cattle Feeders Association's annual convention ends today. The Texas rancher said he favours reopening the U.S.-Canada border to the movement of beef at the earliest opportunity. "We want to expedite the investigation while at the same time making sure it's done right," he said...Organic beef growers determined to cash in on mad cow case Discovery of a Holstein with mad cow disease has producers and sellers of organic and natural beef changing their marketing tactics to make the case — sometimes starkly — that their meat is free of the disease. The largest natural-food grocery chain is taking the high road in a pitch on National Public Radio acknowledging its financial support of public radio. Whole Foods Market, based in Austin, Texas, describes itself as a "purveyor of natural beef from cattle raised without animal byproducts and monitored throughout the entire production process." Others prefer the direct approach: "Organic Beef — It's What's Safe for Dinner" was the headline on a New Year's Eve news release from the Organic Valley Meat Co. of La Farge, Wis...Canadians Irked by U.S. Blame for Mad Cow He and other Canadian ranchers view the land where they make their living as an uninterrupted range over which cattle, feed and processed beef move back and forth freely between Canada and the United States. The border is just a line on a map. They insist the North American cattle industry is so intertwined that it makes little sense to differentiate between American and Canadian beef. That's why they're angry about American finger pointing following the discoveries last year of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, in an Alberta Black Angus cow and a Washington state Holstein traced to Alberta. What really steams them are efforts by some in the American cattle industry and politics to distance themselves from Canadian beef, including an ongoing U.S. ban on imports. They say that appears to blame Canada for the two cases of the brain-wasting disease. "We've never viewed BSE as a Canadian or U.S. problem, it's a North American problem," Jahnke said...Wash. Town Rallies Around Beef Industry As the government planned a weeklong round of cattle-killing in response to a mad-cow case in this town, hundreds of residents crammed into a school gymnasium to show their support for the beef industry. About 350 people attended a rally Saturday that featured booths offering literature about mad cow disease and T-shirts encouraging people to eat beef. Many more stopped by for free food; organizers gave away ribs, hot dog and more than 1,000 hamburgers...Livestock tracking is now on the fast track If there's a bright side to the U.S. mad cow scare, it's that it could speed the nation's move to a centralized system that electronically tracks animals as they move from fields to feed lots to food stores. Efforts to create a centralized database, which exist in some countries, have been slowed so far by disputes over who would maintain the database and who would bear its cost. Such a database could let agricultural officials determine within hours where a sick animal came from and where it went -- a crucial step in a disease outbreak or a terrorist assault on the food supply...Debate Rages On Labeling The mad cow scare has widened a division between some ranchers and meatpackers over a law set to take effect this fall that will require labels identifying U.S.-produced beef sold in grocery stores. Ranchers say it's more important than ever for their products to be labeled to bolster consumer confidence. Meatpackers, however, want a two-year delay in the law's implementation, contending it will require an expensive tracking system and may limit free trade without making meat any safer. Right now, consumers don't know the history of beef products in the grocery store freezer; beef produced in the United States can get a U.S. Department of Agriculture label regardless of where the animal that yielded it was born. The labeling law would require that beef, along with other perishable commodities like fruits and vegetables, fish, lamb and pork -- but not chicken -- be labeled with their country of origin. Only products both raised and processed in the United States would get an American label. The exact wording of the label would be left to the industry. The delay backed by meatpackers, until September 2006, could be accomplished by language in a federal spending bill approved by the House and awaiting a Senate vote later this month. The delay was written into the bill before the Washington state cow was found to have the disease...Riding herd on a crisis As a solitary infected cow in Washington state captured the world's attention and paralyzed the nation's $3.6 billion beef export market, it simultaneously pushed three Colorado-based livestock and meat trade groups into the international spotlight. Their message: U.S. beef is safe. Behind that message is a tale of daily tensions and adrenaline rushes; 16-hour workdays, some in a place called the T-bone conference room; dueling video images of sick and healthy cows; disrupted Christmas and New Year's holidays; huge chunks of cellular air time; and outbursts of frustration when the message hasn't gotten across. The three groups - the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, the U.S. Meat Export Federation and research firm Cattle-Fax - are based in metro Denver and all are well-known in livestock circles...Editorial: Cattle cooperation While such measures are necessary, the quick implementation of country-of-origin labeling now called for by lawmakers seems less so. The measure is backed by several Democrats, including Sens. Tom Daschle, Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan. There is little to object to in the principle of labeling meat with its country of origin. However, such regulations could be costly and would not cover all cases. Hamburger, for instance, is often produced from meat mixed from several countries. Even worse, country-of-origin labels might be misleading. They would tell consumers only where the animal was born, but nothing about the feed given the animal or the subsequent processing of its meat. Instead of promoting what might be little more than a promotional tool, policy-makers should be focused on cross-border solutions. After all, U.S. and Canadian cattle markets are already highly integrated. Between 300,000 and 400,000 Canadian cattle are already in American herds. Both Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin and Chief USDA Veterinary Officer Ron DeHaven have correctly called the mad cow situation a North American problem...USDA Plans to Beef Up Livestock ID System Some beef ranchers resent the high-tech chips and sensors as too expensive and, even, too precise; they're not sure they want consumers to know which farm produced which steak. Many others, however, share federal officials' hopes that a national identification program will allow them to control disease outbreaks, limit economic losses and help them run their ranches more efficiently. Cattle today are often shuttled anonymously through three or four owners before they reach the slaughterhouse. Little, if any, paperwork identifies each animal individually. Some beef ranchers resent the high-tech chips and sensors as too expensive and, even, too precise; they're not sure they want consumers to know which farm produced which steak. Many others, however, share federal officials' hopes that a national identification program will allow them to control disease outbreaks, limit economic losses and help them run their ranches more efficiently. The USDA plan, still sketchy, calls for tagging all 105 million U.S. cattle with the bovine equivalent of a Social Security number — an electronic code that will stay with the animal as it moves from ranch to feedlot, from state to state, from birth to slaughter. The European Union and Canada already use that type of system...63 FDA Warnings in Last Six Years In the last six years, the Food and Drug Administration has sent 63 warning letters to companies involved in the cattle industry detailing unsafe practices -- ranging from sloppy cleanup methods in feed mills to improper labeling of dangerous products that could be fed to cows -- that could lead to the spread of mad cow disease. While the FDA can't impose fines on companies that don't comply with rules that were set up in 1997 to help hold off the disease, the agency can seize products it believes are tainted, or shut down or prosecute noncompliant operations. Steve Solomon, deputy director of the FDA's office of regional operations, said the letters are reserved for serious deviations from the rules, noting, "We prioritize based on risk. We would not have sent the warning letter if we did not consider it significant." Since 1997, the agency has inspected 12,000 companies and found that most are in compliance with regulations that prohibit feeding certain protein products that can carry mad cow disease to animals such as cows and sheep that are hoofed, even-toed and have four-chambered stomachs...Conrad: New rules on slaughtering cattle should be relaxed Sen. Kent Conrad says the federal government should relax new rules on cattle slaughtering implemented in the wake of a mad cow incident and also investigate whether federal officials unduly delayed announcing the cow's origins. The Washington state animal that tested positive for mad cow disease was a downer cow, or non-ambulatory at the time of slaughter. A new ban on the slaughter and processing of downer cattle is too stringent, Conrad, D-N.D., said Friday at a Senate Budget Committee field hearing in Bismarck. Downer cattle should be tested for disease, and those found to be healthy should be allowed to be processed, he said. Some cattle may break legs in shipment but are otherwise safe, he said. Conrad, ranchers and health officials said they want to continue the ban of live cattle imports from Canada, where the diseased Holstein found in Washington state was born. They also want the United States to require country-of-origin labels on beef. Conrad said he will be calling for an inspector general's investigation to find out whether the U.S. Department of Agriculture delayed telling the public about the diseased cow's Canadian origins...