AR-News: (US) TX: another cow at risk for BSE gets by USDA

[cathy goeggel]

      Breaking News
      USDA admits cow at risk for BSE slips through testing system

http://www.meatingplace.com/DailyNews/init.asp?clickthrough=true&ID=12308
      by Daniel Yovich on 5/4/04 for Meatingplace.com


      The Agriculture Department has admitted a breakdown in its bovine
spongiform encephalopathy inspection protocol at a Texas processing company
and is investigating a violation of agency policy by not testing for BSE a
cow condemned for possible neurological disease.

      "Standard procedures call for animals condemned due to possible CNS
disorder to be kept until APHIS officials can collect samples for testing,"
said a joint statement issued by USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection
Service and the Food Safety and Inspection Service. "However, this did not
occur in this case and the animal was sent to rendering."

      It is unclear why the agency's policy was violated. USDA spokesman Ed
Loyd said agency investigators are trying to establish a timeline of events
that led to the animal being sent to rendering without having its brain
sampled for BSE. Last year, the agency tested 500 "high-risk" animals for
the brain wasting disease, and only the cow found to have BSE in Washington
state on Dec. 23 tested positive for the disease.

      "Obviously, this animal fit into that sub-set of high risk animals,"
Loyd said. "We are trying to determine what happened and why."

      The animal arrived at the Lone Star Beef plant on April 27 in San
Angelo, Texas, and was condemned after a federal veterinarian "observed the
cow stagger and fall," a USDA statement said.

      "Standard procedures call for animals condemned due to possible CNS
(central nervous system) disorder to be kept for BSE testing," the USDA
said. "However, this did not occur in this case."