Sludge Watch ==> Meatpacker wins case- allowed to test every animal for BSE

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

Yup.  In the USA a meatpacking plant is not allowed to test all the 
slaughtered animals for BSE (mad cow).  Not allowed.

Can't have that kind of food safety.  What if they find some diseased 
animals?
Lets hope the judge's decision is allowed to stand.



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  Sunday, Apr 1, 2007

Creekstone wins testing case; appeal likely
BY PHYLLIS JACOBS GRIEKSPOOR
The Wichita Eagle


Creekstone Farms Premium Beef and other meatpackers have the right to test 
all the animals they slaughter for mad cow disease, a federal judge ruled 
Thursday.

U.S. District Judge James Robertson immediately put his ruling on hold, 
pending a possible government appeal. If the government does not appeal by 
June 1, the ruling will take effect.

In Arkansas City, Creekstone general manager Kevin Pentz called the ruling a 
"moral victory" but said he expects there will be an appeal.

"But this ruling is still important to us," Pentz said. "We've been waiting 
almost a year since the lawsuit was put into place and the judge has had all 
the final motions in his hand since Dec. 16."

Creekstone first filed suit in March 2006 after the government denied its 
right to conduct testing in the laboratory it built at its plant.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture most recently filed a motion to have the 
case declared moot because of the re-opening of trade with Japan, the 
primary customer that Creekstone hoped to regain with testing.

Pentz said testing would still be an advantage for the company, which sells 
premium Black Angus beef, because it would meet the standard in both Japan 
and South Korea. Testing would lead to an increase in sales of beef to those 
countries and in the price the company could get for its product.

Imports in those countries opened only to boneless beef. South Korea 
immediately halted all imports upon finding a bone fragment in a shipment.

Creekstone has contended that if it were allowed to test all animals, which 
both countries want, such restrictions would not apply.

BSE, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, is a fatal disease that affects 
mostly older animals and is rarely seen in animals under 24 months of age. 
It has been linked to a fatal human illness called variant Creutzfeld Jakob 
disease, which has killed about 150 people since an epidemic in cattle 
struck Britain more than a decade ago.

Only three cases of BSE have been found in the United States, the first in 
an imported cow in December 2003. That discovery resulted in the closing of 
borders worldwide to U.S. beef.

Creekstone Farms had been shipping almost 35 percent of its beef to Japan 
and attributed losses of almost $200 a head to the loss of the export 
market. It normally slaughters 4,000 cattle a week.

The second case in Texas in 2005 and a third last year in Alabama caused 
less damage because the most lucrative markets were already closed.

Initially, the USDA stepped up testing for the disease to 1,000 tests per 
day, limited to those animals presumed to be at the highest risk. It 
recently reduced testing by about 90 percent.

Contributing: Associated Press
Reach P.J. Griekspoor at 316-268-6660 or at pgriekspoor at wichitaeagle.com.
http://www.kansas.com


http://www.kansas.com/101/v-print/story/32368.html