Mad Cow Madness

Busy travel days for me recently. I just returned from the midwest on Friday and will head back out to Detroit, Toledo and other points on Monday. Whew!

While on the plane I caught up on some industry reading...you must check out a new food technology title: "Accelerating the Product Development and Design Process". In particular I found Chapter 6 extremely educational. The author had a way of making his concepts come alive for me. Yes, you caught on quickly...that author is me! Ha! No, really, I did do a lot of reading on the plane.

One particular news item caught my attention. It focused on a meatpacker's attempt to have all the cows scheduled for slaughter to be tested for Mad Cow disease. Good idea, I thought. Well our brilliant pencil-pushers in the USDA threatened to prosecute this meat packer, Creekstone Farms of Arkansas City, Kansas if it proceeded with their plan to ensure the health and safety of its customers. I thought, no, this can't be right, I'd better read the whole thing to make sure I was getting the story right. I got it right, kind of puzzling, but let me explain.

The Agriculture Department is currently responsible for grading, inspecting, and testing all meats destined for consumption (human and pet). They currently test only about 1% of all beef slaughtered that is destined for our fry pans and bbq grills. The frequency of testing has been reduced by about 90% since last July. Budget cuts, regulations to prevent spinal cord and brain tissue in the feed system, and lack of positive test results are generally presented as the justification for reducing the testing for Mad Cow disease. The real question is, "Why would the government care if a meatpacker wanted to go to 100% testing at their own expense?" Oh, the brilliance of our government agencies just shines through in their answer...they are worried that a "false positive" may hurt the sales of beef if Creekstone tested all its animals slaughtered! Creekstone seems to be doing what consumers are asking for...certified safety of their food supply. Incidentally, isn't that what the FDA and USDA are supposed to be guaranteeing ? With the recent issues with Salmonella, E. coli, peanut butter, etc. wouldn't Americans feel better about 100% testing? Creekstone's most excellent response to this ridiculous charge? "Umm, we are using the exact same testing protocol and labs that the USDA is currently using." Now that I love! If the government is worried about false positives, why aren't they worried about the same thing in their testing? Their threat to vigorously prosecute Creekstone was thankfully thwarted by a local magistrate, U.S. District Judge James Robertson. His ruling could have a huge affect on future legislation and may allow for more privatization of testing, certification and reduce the stranglehold the USDA has on the fresh meat industry. The USDA has until June 1 to appeal his decision to allow Creekstone to begin testing all their animals slaughtered in their meatpacking facility.

Here's my beef...if you want to regulate and control the testing and certification, then you have to have enough resources in place to meet all the needs of producers. You can't shoestring a budget, spread out the inspector's ranges, and slow down the system. Until the government is willing to up its efficiency in operations, then I say let Creekstone test. It's good for American consumers to be able to consume certifiably safe meat.

Chow!