Monday, June 13, 2005

BSE Mad Cow Disease - How can you find it if you don't look?

It seems the US authorities are acting like brass monkeys. See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil, export no evil beef. How can they expect to find it if they don't look. Japan tests 100% of beef, Europe tests over 80% and USA tests...........1%.

It seems the only way a cow can get discovered with BSE is if

a) A cow goes mad, runs riot and gets shot OUTSIDE the slaughterhouse like the only confirmed U.S. case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, found in December 2003 in a Washington state dairy cow.

or

b) The farmer has taken so long getting the cow to market since it first showed signs of BSE that it is so riddled with bovine spongiform encephalopathy that it's spongey brain prevents it from walking properly and it can't make it to the slaughterhouse.

In these 2 incidents, the alleged only 2 cases of mad cows' disease in the USA, because the beasts were slaughtered outside the slaughterhouse they can't legally enter the food chain.

That means no money for the slaughterman. So then the head honcho scratches his head and says "hey! we can ship this one off to the Govt to claim money for that BSE testing grant" - it's pure luck that even these two cows were discovered.

Even then we've had to wait 7 months for the test results!

USA beef could be the most dangerous beef in the world - who knows. Until they start testing more thoroughly no one will ever know.

USDA Finds Possible 2nd Case of Mad Cow Disease: "The USDA said the suspect animal's brain tested positive for BSE in a rapid, preliminary test in November. When immediately retested with more sophisticated technology, it was found free of the disease.
But the USDA's inspector general asked scientists on Wednesday to retest the animal using a third kind of technology known as the 'Western blot' test. The animal tested positive late on Friday.

The government said the suspect animal, first tested in November, did not enter the human food or livestock feed supply because it was unable to walk when delivered for slaughter.

The Western blot test was requested by a consumer group in February, which said it was the most definitive test available. "

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