One Producer of U.S. Beef Wants to Test All Its Cattle

[Guest guest]

February 27, 2004

One Producer of U.S. Beef Wants to Test All Its Cattle

By SANDRA BLAKESLEE

 

beef producer in Kansas has proposed testing all its cattle for mad

cow disease so it can resume exports to Japan, but it is

encountering resistance from the Agriculture Department and other

beef producers.

 

American beef exports have plummeted since Dec. 23 when a cow in

Washington State was diagnosed with bovine spongiform

encephalopathy, or B.S.E., a fatal disease that can be passed to

humans who eat infected cattle tissue.

 

To assure the safety of its meat, the company, Creekstone Farms of

Arkansas City, Kan., a subsidiary of the Enterprise Management

Group, wants to use rapid diagnostic tests that are routinely used

in Japan and many European nations.

 

But no rapid tests have been approved by the United States

Department of Agriculture, and department officials pointed out

yesterday that it was against the law for any company to sell or

market any unapproved diagnostic test. They said they would not

respond to Creekstone's request until they evaluated the legal,

regulatory and trade implications raised.

 

Other meat producers are upset by the company's request, saying it

has broken ranks in an industry besieged by bad news. Dan Murphy,

vice president for public affairs at the American Meat Industry,

said American beef was so safe that widescale testing was

unnecessary.

 

" Everybody is hurting from the export ban, " Mr. Murphy said, " but

their solution is not the right one. " Any testing, he added, should

take place under government oversight.

 

Creekstone's president, John Stewart, said in an interview that the

company used to sell a quarter of its premium black Angus beef to

Asian markets. Those markets are now closed, and the company is

losing $80,000 a day. The Japanese government, he said, indicated it

would probably buy meat that was tested with the same equipment.

 

" We have been looking at the idea of testing all our animals for

some time, " Mr. Stewart said. " This moved to the forefront with the

most recent episode in Washington State. The problem we're having

now is that the U.S.D.A. is not wanting to do this. They don't want

to test. They don't want to recognize B.S.E. is a problem. They are

not going to allow anyone to test until they decide how or when. We

believe that may be never. "

 

Mr. Stewart declined to identify the companies whose tests he was

hoping to use.

 

But Bio-Rad, Inc. of Hercules, Calif., confirmed that it had talked

with Creekstone about the mad cow testing equipment and rapid test

kits it sends to Japan.

 

" We are talking to them to offer our expertise, " a Bio-Rad

spokeswoman, Susan Berg, said of Creekstone Farms. " But we can't do

anything legally. We have no intention of breaking the law. " She

said that Bio-Rad submitted data for licensing approval earlier this

year but has not heard back from the Agriculture Department's Animal

and Plant Health Inspection Service.

 

According to a statement from J. B. Penn, the under secretary for

farm and foreign agricultural services, the Agriculture Department

will respond to Creekstone when it has completed its evaluation.

 

A press spokesman, Jim Rogers, said that the reply will " take some

time " and that anyone interested should " check back in future. "

 

Details of the standoff were reported yesterday on a Web site,

meatingplace.com, run by Meat Marketing Technology, a Chicago

magazine that writes about the United States and Canadian meat

processing industries. Lisa Ferguson, a senior staff veterinarian at

the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service told the magazine's

editor, Daniel Yovich, that Creekstone would be violating a 1913 law

that states that only the inspection service can license the use of

animal diagnostic test kits.

 

But yesterday, Mr. Rogers said that the agency did not mean to imply

that Creekstone Farms would face criminal penalties if it adopted

mad cow testing. On the other hand, any company that sold such

testing equipment to a meat processor could be breaking the law, he

said.

 

Frustrated by the Agriculture Department's apparent foot dragging,

Creekstone Farms went to its congressman, Todd Tiahrt, a Republican,

for help. Chuck Napp, an aide, said, " We have contacted U.S.D.A.

about this situation and are still waiting for a response. "

 

" We believe farms ought to be able to do screening that meets the

protocols of Asian governments, " Mr. Napp said.