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Beef News

OldDog/NewTricks

Well-known member
BEEF NEWS
Creekstone asks for summary judgment in BSE testing case

by Pete Hisey on 7/17/2006 for Meatingplace.com

Creekstone Farms, which is suing USDA to be allowed to test all of its cattle for presence of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, filed for summary judgment in Washington, D.C. Friday, and the company suggested that such universal testing might both eliminate the need for and expense of age verification for export animals and help regain market share in key export markets such as Japan and South Korea.

USDA has until August 25 to reply to the request for summary judgment, then each side has another month to file amended replies. Creekstone charges that since the BSE rapid test it plans to use is not a vaccine, serum, virus or toxin, it does not qualify under the Virus Serum Toxin Act of 1913, the Act USDA cites as its authority for restricting the sale of test kits.

John Stewart, chief executive of the company, noted that several recent developments have given support to Creekstone's position. The discovery of another case of BSE in Canada, for instance, may impel both Japan and South Korea to demand strict segregation of U.S. and Canadian cattle in slaughter plants, possibly an expensive process for many processors.

Additionally, he said, "it would be logical" that the Japanese would drop their demand for cattle only under 21 months of age if all exported animals were tested, allowing processors to fatten cattle for more profitability.

Testing may also eliminate the demand for boneless beef only, restrictions that resulted in the closure of the market over bone content that posed no health risk.

"At first, we looked at testing as a tool to open markets," Stewart said during a press conference. "Now we look at it as a tool to regain market share. Consumers in Japan are skittish about U.S. beef" and testing would reassure them, he said.

Additionally, testing would insulate U.S. beef against any future BSE event and probably keep export markets open in such an event.
 

RoperAB

Well-known member
Age verification is cheaper than bse testing.
About why korea stopped importing American beef, read this.
Korea Stops U.S. Beef Imports After USDA Withholds Information on Latest Mad Cow Case
US Holds Infomation on Mad Cow Case
Korea Times - South Korea, Apr 5, 2005
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/biz/200604/kt2006040519470011910.htm
SEOUL (Yonhap) - The United States has failed to provide the date of birth of a cow linked to a third case of mad cow disease on its shores, a matter that could jeopardize Seoul's resumption of American beef imports, the government said Wednesday.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry said Washington forwarded information on the cow Friday but gave no conclusive evidence to indicate its age.

"The data contained expert testimonies by veterinarians, but we cannot determine for certain if the cow was born before April 1998,'' said Park Hyun-chul, head of the ministry's livestock bureau.

The date is significant because if the animal was born after this date, South Korea could halt all efforts to renew imports of American beef. The date is when new measures to prevent mad cow disease went into full effect in the United States.

In March, Washington confirmed the discovery of a third case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), better known as mad cow disease. Seoul placed an import ban on American beef after the first BSE case was discovered in 2003.

Park said Seoul has asked for additional information and could send South Korean inspectors to directly check the evidence.

The official said that because of the lack of information, the exact date for the resumption of American beef imports cannot currently be predicted. The imports were originally expected to hit the market in early May. "At this moment, we are not saying that we will not resume the imports of American beef. But it remains hard to say exactly when the imports will resume,'' a ministry official said on condition of anonymity.
 

PPRM

Well-known member
You know what? Free Enterprise......If Creekstone will pay, who cares if it costs more? The side Benefit is it increases the tested population so we can get a true handle on the scope of this problem,

PPRM
 
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