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By Marcus Dorsey
On Dec. 9, 2003, a non-ambulatory dairy cow believed to be about 4-1/2 years-old, arrived at Verns Moses Lake Meats, a slaughter plant in Moses Lake, Wash. The cow's attributes were similar to those of a cow that had complications while calving. The slaughter plant followed USDA standards of testing for Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE). On Dec. 22 the test showed BSE or commonly know as Mad Cow Disease to be positive in the animal. On Dec. 27, trace records were found stating that the animal was exported from Canada. Officially, the United States was no longer safe from Mad Cow Disease. You're probably wondering what happens now that the United States has been contaminated with this horrible disease? The USDA acted very swiftly with the problem at hand. On Jan. 8 the USDA issued four new rules to enhance the safeguard of BSE from the United States. Product Holding, Specified Risk Material, Advanced Meat Recovery, and Air-Injection Stunning are the four areas the USDA is altering to help regulations. In the past when cows were brought to the slaughter plants and were suspicious of having Mad Cow disease they were tested for the disease and then slaughtered. The Product Holding regulation will stop all animals that are tested for Mad Cow disease from getting slaughtered until the test results come back from the USDA . Specified Risk Material is the banning of various body parts of a cow that is older than thirty months. Some of these body parts such as the eyes, small intestine, spinal cord, and many more have traditionally been ground up and put into the human meat supply. This regulation makes sure slaughter plants dispose of these items properly so they do not enter the human food chain. These enhancements are consistent with the actions taken by Canada after the discovery of BSE in their country. Advanced Meat Recovery (AMR) is a process of using high pressure to remove carcasses from the bone with out incorporating any of that material. AMR products can be labeled as "meat." Since some of the body parts of animals are no longer considered "meat" because of the Specified Risk Material regulations, those body parts are not eligible for AMR. The last regulation the USDA has adapted is the use of Air-Injection Stunning on the cattle. The USDA has banned Air-Injection Stunning to prevent the dislocating of brain tissue of the carcass. So are you worried about the Mad Cow problem in the United States? If you are concerned you're not the only one. On Jan. 9, Gallup performed a survey of 1,000 adults asking Americans about the Mad Cow problem in the United States. Only one in six people felt that their families would be harmed by Mad Cow disease. 55% of people heard a "great deal" about the outbreak, while only 33% said they only heard a "moderate" amount concerning the outbreak. Only 16% were "very" or "somewhat" worried about becoming a victim. Finally 81% said they have not changed their consumption of meat because of the outbreak. For more information about the poll visit Gallup Poll results. Maybe the Mad Cow outbreak doesn't affect the majority of consumers, but what kind of an effect does it have on dairymen or ranchers? I talked to two dairy farmers in Idaho, Jim Stewart and Tom Dorsey, both said that they were worried about the disease, but hoped that it never hit them. They were a little concerned about how close Moses Lake was to their herd. Stewart told me he thought the new regulations the government was passing would help stop the spread of the disease if it broke out. Stewart also told me of a few practices he was going to change on his farm. He was not going to bring in cattle from other herds without first testing them. I also interviewed a cattle rancher in Max Firth, Idaho. I asked him what he thought would happen to the beef industry if Mad Cow disease spread? He told me how the affects of the Washington case of Mad Cow disease had already dropped the price of beef. He told me beef prices were nearing an all time low. He said this one instance is hurting all ranchers. I asked when he thought the price of beef would come up. He didn't know for sure. Mad Cow disease has broke out in the United States, the government is doing their very best to make sure the disease does not spread. It has been a while since the first cow was detected with the disease, and there has not been a second case. Right now it is going to be tough for ranchers but as long as there is not another outbreak the price of beef will rise again.
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