NEWS: A Thousand Violation of Mad Cow Rules - Public Citizen 08/18/

[Guest guest]

More on Mad Cow disease -- this time on a lack of compliance at

slaughter houses. So many problems caused by their sinful activities.

The unfortunate thing is that we never know when their sins will affect

us -- as in when the government tries to do a mass cow slaughter to

address some type of problem. Anyway, for your information, here is the

article.

 

your servant,

 

Hare Krsna dasi

 

************************

 

CONTACT: *Public Citizen* <http://www.citizen.org/>

http://www.citizen.org/

(202) 588-1000

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

AUGUST 18, 2005

 

 

 

Evidence of Weak Meat Inspection Program Found in Nearly a Thousand

Violations of Mad Cow Rules at Slaughter Plants

Noncompliance Records Show Plants Failed to Follow Regulations

 

 

 

WASHINGTON - August 18 - In stark contrast to the public relations

message touted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the beef

industry that the U.S. regulatory system is adequate to prevent the

spread of mad cow disease, an *analysis released today by the consumer

group Public Citizen found significant lapses in the industry's

compliance with federal rules.*

 

The analysis stems from a December 2004 Freedom of Information Act

(FOIA) request from Public Citizen to the USDA for all "noncompliance

records" (NRs) related to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).

Public Citizen received copies of 829 records on Aug. 15.

 

More than half the violations (460) occurred because slaughter plants

did not have an adequate plan for dealing with BSE in their plant's food

safety plan, as required by the USDA, the analysis shows. Of those 460

violations, 60 percent described plans that contained no mention of BSE

at all.

 

"The fact that 60 percent of the violations were due to a failure to

even mention BSE or risk [exposure to] materials such as brains and

spinal cords is significant," said Patty Lovera, deputy director of

Public Citizen's food program. "If officials running a meat plant

cannot be bothered to recognize the risk of BSE when writing their

safety plan, how much of a priority is it in daily operations and

training of staff?"

 

The analysis also found that:

 

*Violations of rules about the removal and handling of specified risk

material (SRMs) occurred at 131 plants in at least 35 states*. *SRMs

are the high-risk materials, such as brains and spinal cords, most

likely to be infectious*. More than 30 percent of the NRs analyzed were

due to either improperly handling or removing SRMs. *The SRM ban is

considered a critical firewall in protecting the food supply from BSE. *

 

The violations described in the NRs occurred from January 2004 through

March 2005. This shows that the *problems in the plants persisted long

after plants should have adapted to new rules issued in January 2004

after the discovery of the first case of BSE in the United States. *

 

In 10 percent of the NRs analyzed, *plants incorrectly identified the

age of cattle. Properly determining the age of cattle is a crucial step

in proper SRM removal because* the definition of SRMs is dependent on

age; *in cattle older than 30 months, there is a greater likelihood that

SRM will carry BSE* and therefore must be removed. Accurately

identifying the head, spine and carcass of cattle by age is necessary to

ensure that all SRMs are removed as the carcass moves down the slaughter

line.

 

"These enforcement records only increase our concerns about how easily

potentially infected cattle are bypassing inspection points at

slaughterhouses, creating one more opportunity for infected meat to slip

through the system," said Tony Corbo, legislative representative of

Public Citizen's food program. * "We're approaching the two-year mark of

our first case of mad cow in the United States, yet the government is

still lagging behind on protecting consumers." *

 

Public Citizen sent the FOIA request to the USDA in December 2004 after*

the chairman of the USDA meat inspectors union, Stan Painter, raised

concerns about the agency's policy for ensuring that cattle age is

properly determined. Instead of investigating whether the policy was

adequate, the agency opened a misconduct investigation on Painter.*

*The investigation was closed this week, shortly after Public Citizen

received the documentation*, which contained more than 80 records of

plants improperly identifying cattle age.