WASHINGTON, D.C. – American meat groups say there is no need to
prohibit bits of animal brains and spinal cord in human food to prevent
mad cow disease because their cattle have never had the deadly ailment.
However, consumer groups said the United States Department of
Agriculture’s proposals to keep the U.S. food supply safe from mad cow
disease didn’t go far enough.
USDA has invited public comments on regulations it is considering for
meatpackers to prevent the disease also known as bovine spongiform
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encephalopathy, or BSE.
The proposals grew out of a Harvard University study last November that
found little risk of the disease turning up in American cattle, but
suggested a few additional precautions the government could take.
Among the most drastic measures considered by the USDA is banning meat
companies from using bits of animal brains and spinal cord in human
food. High-speed equipment now used by some meat processors to extract
edible tissues from bones sometimes pulls tiny amounts of spinal
columns and neck bones from cattle into the meat.
Once the department determines which measures to implement, the USDA
said it will publish them in the Federal Register and analyze the costs
to the industry.
“In this country it’s important to remember that we don’t have BSE. Any
meat derived from (cattle) from the United States is safe,” said Janet
Riley, spokesperson for the American Meat Institute.
“These measures should be taken by a country that already has BSE.”
Riley said the meatpacking industry would take a “significant hit”
financially if USDA implemented the idea.
The disease, for which there is no known cure, destroys an animal’s
brain. A human version, known as variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, is
transmitted when people eat meat mixed with infected cattle brains and
spinal cord. More than 100 people in Europe have died from the disease.
Scientists believe the brain-wasting disease spread among cattle when
the spinal cord and brains of affected livestock were ground up for
feed, a practice banned in the U.S. since 1997. USDA said it would also
consider tightening rules for disposing dead livestock on farms and
ranches.
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association said it supported USDA in
developing these regulations should BSE be discovered in the U.S.
“But right now these steps are unnecessary and therefore we don’t think
there are any needs to implement them,” said Gary Weber, animal disease
expert for the beef group.
Consumer groups said the USDA should do more.
“It’s clearly good that the USDA is finally taking steps to keep BSE
out of the human food supply,” said Caroline Smith DeWaal of the Center
for Science in the Public Health.
“But USDA doesn’t go nearly far enough.”
She said the department’s actions would not prohibit the meat industry
from using spinal cords from cattle older than two years of age. Most
cattle diagnosed with BSE have been 24 months or older.
