Feds ban 'downer' cattle from human food chain

By Kyung M. Song
Seattle Times staff reporter

	CHUCK KENNEDY / KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman announces a ban on the use of "downer" cattle for human food.
	E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Related stories Some local families cut out beef, consider turning vegetarian Farmers won't lose much on 'downed' cow slaughter ban

U.S. agriculture officials yesterday banned sick or injured "downer" cattle from being processed for human food, the central piece of an overhaul of federal meat-safety regulations in response to the nation's first case of mad-cow disease.

Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman announced what she called "very aggressive actions" as investigators in the United States and Canada continued to search for where an infected Holstein dairy cow from the Yakima Valley dairy farm was born and how it contracted the disease.

Had the new rules been in effect at the time of the infected cow's slaughter Dec. 9, the animal could not have been sold for food. And federal inspectors could not have stamped its carcass as being free of mad-cow disease before receiving the results 13 days later of a test showing that the cow did have the brain-wasting disease.

U.S. officials repeatedly said the regulation changes stemmed from "an abundance of caution" and should not be taken as a sign that the U.S. meat supply was unsafe. Previous such assurances have failed to allay fears at home or abroad, with cattle-futures prices falling and none of the 31 nations that have slapped import bans on U.S. beef moving to lift their restrictions.

Most visibly, the new regulation will eliminate as many as 200,000 downer cattle each year from the human food chain. Downers are animals that are unable to walk to slaughter because of disease or broken legs and other injuries.

New measures to protect against mad-cow disease Cattle too sick or injured to walk are banned from use as human food. Meat from animals tested for mad-cow disease will no longer be processed for food until results come back. The brain, head and spinal cord of cattle over 30 months old will no longer be allowed into the food supply. Small intestines from animals of all ages are banned. The use of air injection to stun cattle before slaughter is banned because the technique can spread brain tissue to other parts of the carcass. A national microchip-based animal-identification system will be developed to allow quick tracking of cattle. Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) also will prohibit body parts with the highest risk of mad-cow disease — including the brain, spinal cord and eyes — from cattle over 30 months old from being turned into human food. The small intestines from cattle of any age are also banned.

Mad-cow disease is believed to incubate for three to six years before appearing in infected animals. Ron DeHaven, the USDA's chief veterinarian, said the guidelines were based on findings that the protein that causes the disease does not appear in certain organs and the central-nervous system of cattle younger than 30 months.

The USDA also said that it will develop a microchip identification system that will allow quick, nationwide tracking of cows.

Members of Congress who have pushed unsuccessfully for bans on the use of downer cattle in the past say they will now introduce legislation based on the new USDA rules.

Mad-cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), is extremely rare in North America, with just three cases in the Unites States and Canada since 1993.

About 35 million U.S. cattle are slaughtered every year. A 2001 study by the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis commissioned by the USDA concluded that importing a single sick cow into the U.S. would produce less than one new BSE case over 20 years and likely would quickly die out.

But other scientists say BSE is far more prevalent among downer cattle.

The beef industry, which has lobbied against similar bans in Congress in the past, reacted quickly to yesterday's announcement.

J. Patrick Boyle, president of the American Meat Industry, said the changes reverse a century-old tradition of giving federal meat inspectors the power to ensure food safety.

"That discretion on part of the veterinarian is no longer applicable," Boyle said during a news conference.

Boyle said a significant number of cows, regardless of their health, "will now be diverted from the human food supply. It's an extraordinary measure."

	E.B. MCGOVERN / AP Dairy cows feed in a pen yesterday at the Sunny Dene Ranch in Mabton, Yakima County, where a Holstein was found to have mad-cow disease.

But Terry Stokes of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, a Washington lobby, said the changes were "important from a trade perspective." Stokes said he would urge beef producers to back the new rules.

Chandler Keys, the association's vice president, said Veneman's moves will help reopen exports to Mexico soon. He was less optimistic about beef exports to Japan, South Korea and other Asian countries.

Gov. Gary Locke, on the other hand, said the new USDA regulations don't go far enough to allay public concern about meat quality.

Locke said state officials want to know if they have the authority to require all downer cows to be tested for mad-cow disease — something the new federal regulations don't call for. Without such a requirement, farmers will either bury their dead cattle or ship them off for rendering, eliminating valuable surveillance, Locke said.

"We need to do even more to assure the public our beef supply is safe," Locke said. "We need this testing to determine whether there are any other cases of mad cow out there."

During the past two years, the USDA has tested about 20,000 cattle — or less than 10 percent of the downer animals — for mad-cow disease annually. The tests are targeted mainly at high-risk animals, those showing symptoms of nervous system disorder or inability to walk.

Currently, the only BSE-detection test used in the United States requires extracting a sample from a specific part of the cow's brain. Veneman said yesterday that the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service will no longer prematurely mark cattle tested for BSE as "inspected and passed" until it receives confirmation from the lab.

Carol Tucker Foreman, chief of the agriculture department's food-safety programs during the Carter administration, said the USDA has taken some very good steps, but needs to dramatically expand testing. She also said a mandatory national tracking system for animals should be enforced.

Veneman yesterday said her agency is working to "take the next steps" to adopt a national identification system that has been in the works for more than a year. Investigators were able to tentatively trace the Yakima Valley cow's origins more quickly than they expected because farmers keep dairy cows longer and tend to keep better records than with beef cattle.

Still, investigators have yet to locate most of the 81 other cattle that entered the U.S. along the sick cow.

Some 4,400 cattle are under quarantine at two locations in Washington. One herd, at Sunny Dene Farm in Mabton, contained the sick cow and several other cows that entered the U.S. at the same time. The other quarantined herd contains one of the infected cow's offspring. Authorities have not said when and how many of the animals under quarantine will be slaughtered.

Canadian officials killed 1,500 cattle after a cow was found with BSE in Alberta in May. Provincial officials were given the option of rendering, burying or incinerating the dead animals.

Foreman, now director of the Food Policy Institute of the Consumer Federation of America, said it's important to ensure the USDA plans are fully implemented.

"A voluntary or piecemeal system is not sufficient to protect either public health or consumer confidence," Foreman said. "Right now, while all the world is focusing on us, they're saying the right thing. We need to make sure they do the right thing as the rules get written."

Kyung M. Song: 206-464-2423 or ksong@seattletimes.com. Seattle Times staff reporters Jonathan Martin and Sandi Doughton contributed to this report. Material from Knight Ridder Newspapers and Gannett News Service is included.

Copyright © 2003 The Seattle Times Company