USDA Bans Downer Cattle from Human Food

Reuters ^ | 12/30/03 | Reuters

[Pikamax]

USDA Bans Downer Cattle from Human Food Tue December 30, 2003 04:12 PM ET

By Charles Abbott WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said on Tuesday the government was banning downer cattle -- animals at the slaughter plant too sick or injured to walk on their own -- from being used as food for humans.

Veneman told a news conference the Agriculture Department would continue its "aggressive surveillance" of cattle for neurological ailments that could signal mad cow disease. Meat from those animals cannot be sold until tests show they are free of mad cow disease, she said.

As a precaution, Veneman said, processors would be barred from using the brains, eyes and small intestine of cattle in human food. Also, there will be a new regulation to ensure spinal tissue does not enter human meat products as a result of using sophisticated meat recovery systems that scrape tiny bits of meat off the bones of a carcass.

"The actions we are taking today are steps to enact additional safeguards to protect the public health," Veneman said.

Packing plants will be barred from using air injection stunning to kill cattle as another precaution, she announced.

"USDA is also working to take the next steps toward implementation of a verifiable system of a national animal identification," Veneman said.

The first step of the voluntary animal identification program was expected July 2004, with the release of identification numbers for farms, ranches and feedlots.

Veneman said she did not expect the new measures to cause an increase in beef prices for consumers because "this involves a very small number of animals in the scheme of things."

There are an estimated 150,000-200,000 downer cattle out of 35 million slaughtered each year in the United States.

She also said the new steps would not be overly costly.

"I don't anticipate that the change in the specified risk materials, the ban on downer animals in the food system, are going to cost the USDA significant amounts of money or for that matter the industry significant amounts of money," she said.

A meat industry official said the new restrictions might prompt slaughterhouses to refuse to accept downer cattle. That would impair USDA's mad-cow surveillance system, which relies on spotting suspect animals at slaughter.

"The practical reality is most plants will say 'no downers'," the meat official said.

The USDA is investigating the cause of the first U.S. case of mad cow disease, also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). The disease was found in a Holstein dairy cow in Washington state last week.

[NTegraT]

Still under a little shock after reading this that "sick" beef has been allowed in the human consumption chain at all. Dog food, etc., maybe, but humans?

[Uncle Miltie]

One step closer to Kashruth...

[In_25_words_or_less]

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said on Tuesday the government was banning downer cattle -- animals at the slaughter plant too sick or injured to walk on their own -- from being used as food for humans.

Yeah, it is definitely a surprise that no such ban was already in place.

[palmer]

Soon they'll ban "Eat the Depressed".

[zarf]

Soylent Green is downer cattle.....unbelievable.

[Blue Screen of Death]

Disgusting. How about tongue? I'd never eat anything that came out of an animals mouth. I'll just stick to eggs.

[Pikamax]

How the heck has this been allowed for all these years?? I never heard of downer cattle before this.

[dennisw]

Yeah, it is definitely a surprise that no such ban was already in place........

A shocker. Should have been banned long ago and heavy penalties levied on idiots who feed cattle (natural vegetarians) ground up animal parts as protein supplement. Sick sick sick sick sick

[lormand]

Here is a novel idea!

Ban all downer cattle, all of the time

[Amelia]

Nice step, but it does appear they'd have implemented it sooner. It's especially disconcerting to know that downer cattle has been in the human food chain at all.

[petitfour]

I ditto all ye disgusted folks. sick sick sick

Meanwhile humans kill baby humans for convenience.

[aruanan]

You know, it's funny but when Indians--uh, Native Americans--used every bit of an animal's carcass, it's ecologically-sensitive and demonstrates the deep, spiritual frugality of the Native American living in tune with nature. When white cattlemen do it, it's because they're greedy.

[StatesEnemy]

I worked on a turkey farm as a young teen and you wouldn't believe the number of diseased/sickly/near-death birds that made it to market...

[JoJoBean]

Here's a link to a FLASH animation that I found going around just before the Mad-Cow scare:
www.TheMeatrix.com

[KarlInOhio]

A lefty friend sent that link to me. I replied that free-range meat is healthier and tastier. I also noted that it just happened to be the first week of deer season in Ohio and it was time to shoot Bambi's mom! He didn't comment on my desire for free-range meat. :-).

[Thud]

Shouldn't be used for animal feed either, but it is, same as for people food. Another empty regulation - the problem is failure to enforce the existing ones.

"Everybody pretend to be good, and let's hope no one notices that we aren't."

[vetvetdoug]

I wonder if this means if a cow breaks its' leg, one has to throw it away. There has to be some common sense in this deal somewhere.

[horse_doc]

Still under a little shock after reading this that "sick" beef has been allowed in the human consumption chain at all.

You ought to spend a morning in a sale barn. People sell sick animals for one form of consumption or another every single day.

BTW - most premium dog foods are made of a higher quality meat than is required in, say, bologna.