Posted on 04/17/2004 8:30:26 PM PDT by Indy Pendance
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry favors more testing for mad cow disease and a "standard set of criteria for testing" used by the entire U.S. beef industry, a Kerry spokesman said Friday.
"Senator Kerry thinks we need to have a standard set of criteria for testing, and he thinks there should be more tests," said Bill Burton, the spokesman. "We need a more robust system to make sure that animals are tracked and tested, and we need to keep an eye on animals that come over our borders."
Burton spoke to The Traveler in a phone interview from Washington, D.C. He commented on the efforts of Creekstone Farms Premium Beef to start voluntary testing for mad cow of 100 percent of the cattle processed at the Arkansas City plant.
"It's a perfect situation where the USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) can work with the industry to create standards that are safe and reasonable," Burton said. "It's just a matter of making sure that everyone is doing the same tasks and that consumers are protected at all costs."
The USDA last week denied Creekstone's request to conduct private testing for mad cow, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). The request was made in February so that Creekstone could re-open trade with Japan, a big customer of Creekstone. Trade with Japan had accounted for 15 to 25 percent of Creekstone's sales.
Japan shut its borders to U.S. beef products after a case of mad cow was discovered in December in Washington state.
Japan has asked the U.S. to consider blanket testing of beef initiated by private industry. A Japanese agriculture official said the USDA's decision on Creekstone's request was "regrettable."
But the USDA believes testing 100 percent of cattle, particularly younger animals, is not warranted by science. Creekstone processes mainly younger animals, which the agency says are not at risk for the disease.
Creekstone counters that the voluntary testing it would do in a lab already set up at the Ark City plant is a business decision, designed to give its Japanese customers what they demand. The Black Angus beef packer would assume all the costs of the tests.
"We believe this really is a consumer issue rather than a government issue," said Bill Fielding, Creekstone's chief operating officer.
But Creekstone's strategy of 100 percent testing has been under attack by large beef packers who say it is not needed for food safety is too expensive to implement. On the other hand, many U.S. consumers have expressed their support of Creekstone.
Another supporter of Creekstone's strategy is former Senator Nancy Kassebaum Baker, wife of the U.S. ambassador to Japan. Baker has sent a letter to the Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman asking the USDA to reconsider its refusal to allow American meat packers to do their own BSE tests.
Such testing could promote confidence in U.S. beef -- both at home and abroad, Baker states in the letter.
"I don't believe that private 100 percent testing would diminish that opinion in the domestic market," Baker said.
Japan is one of more than 50 countries with beef import bans in effect, the Associated Press reported.
"We can work with the industry to create standards that are safe and reasonable," said Burton, the Kerry spokesman. "The bottom line is that the safer our meat is in the United States, the more people will buy it."
CRAZY LIKE A MAD COW IDEA: We start a California initiative requiring that all beef sold in California will have to be labelled indicating whether or not:
- beef 100% test for mad cow
- beef raised without animal byproduct feed
ALTERNATIVE CRAZY LIKE A MAD COW IDEA: We start a California initiative requiring that all business selling beef in California must have signs/labels/etc indicating whether or not:
- beef sold in store/restaurant has been 100% test for mad cow
- beef sold in store/restaurant was raised without animal byproduct feed
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