Sandhusker Sandhusker Sandhusker(please get a shorter name :lol: ) something did happen in Dec 2003 and it had everything to do with your packing plants. They allowed a BSE positive cow  to be ground and mixed with 10,000 pounds of hamburger and be distributed to at least eight States.   They tried to recall it but it was to late as some had already been eaten.

It also had everything with the USDA's creditibility.  The USDA tried to down play it by saying that she was a downer, all downers are tested  and the SRM's were removed. But  they later had to clarify that statemment by saying that "well she was laying down as  the vet inspected her but there is nothing to say she didn't get up and walk later."   If she wasn't a downer in the plants eyes, that had a policy not to accept downers which the USDA knew about ,  then would have the SRM's been removed, not likely as there was no rule saying they had to be from a non downer animal. Then the investigation into your testing program showed you didn't and don't test all downer by a far cry, only a small selective sample were and are tested. Oh three strikes and there goes the USDA credibility.

Just maybe you should really look at what happen surrounding the DEC 2003 case and think to yourself,  The rest of the world  read  this too. What do you think they would think of the job the USDA and the US beef industry has done? They have tried to down play the whole issue and blame it on someone else  to the point of discrediting themselves!!!

Then look at the so called surveillance program and ask yourself are we really trying to prove anything to ourselves and the rest of the world   when we aren't testing the target animals that were recommended by the OIE?

 This is not all the USDA's fault if they had come out and told the honest truth the US beef industry would have roasted them on a spit, for the drop in consumer confidence. Just like they did when they announced the inconclusive test results that cause a drop in cattle prices.

 

If this border is not opened using the science as we know it, the US cattlemen will roast the USDA if/when a BSE case is found as you will have to live by the same non-sciencific rules. Plus you will have to live will all the lies that R-CALF has been spouting about Canadian beef. What do you think will happen to consumer confidence then.

Please remember when you are thinking about this whole issue that

1:  Canada is almost 2 years farther down the rode to recovery.

2:  We  have a tracing system on all cattle that is working and is being improved on.

3:  The CFIA has  yearly records on feed ban compliance. 

4: Our slaughter plants  can guarantee that an export market is only getting UTM meat as  our plants either slaughter OTM or UTM but not both in same plant.

5:  Our surveillance program is doing a better job at testing the Highest risk  targeted animals, ie the fallen stock on farms. 

6:   No infected meat was recalled  from the Canadian food chain.

7:   We also held on to consumer confidence and built on it.

8:   We qualify as a minimal risk country as even with our stronger  testing we have only found three cases in almost 2 years,  

and the three   most important things to our  industries survival  

1: We don't have a beef organization telling our consumers that the meat they are eating is unsafe  and a risk to their health

2: We still have creditibily to our handleing of the BSE issue.

3: We are  increasing slaughter capacity.  which is worrying the US slaughter industry.