Testing All Cows

[rsomer]

Although I am not fond of quoting the CCA, they may be right this time. I have included the entire text of their message for Friday but key phrases include:
Surveillance is not a public health protection measure.
Canadian food is kept safe by the removal of specified risk materials at slaughter, which prevents all potentially infectious material from entering the food system.
Because we’re calling on our international trading partners to re-open their borders based on sound science, Canada’s decisions on such things as surveillance and testing must also be based on science.

http://www.info-cca.ca/
"Federal Agriculture Minister Bob Speller announced to the media yesterday that Canada will increase its surveillance of cattle to 8000 over a 12 month period. This will exceed the requirement established by international standards. Surveillance is not a public health protection measure. Surveillance determines the prevalence of BSE in Canada and measures the effectiveness of programs in place to prevent the disease from spreading. Canadian food is kept safe by the removal of specified risk materials at slaughter, which prevents all potentially infectious material from entering the food system.
The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association supports whatever level of testing the Canadian Food Inspection Agency determines to be necessary based on international guidelines and sound science. Because we’re calling on our international trading partners to re-open their borders based on sound science, Canada’s decisions on such things as surveillance and testing must also be based on science.
The CCA is continuing to work to get the U.S. border re-opened to Canadian bone-in beef and live cattle exports based on sound scientific principles."

Something I have been wondering about, aren't we still shipping boneless cuts to the U.S. I haven't heard or read anything to the contrary. If we are, then, yes, we have something to loose as an industry.

[jensend]

rsomer - i too am skeptical about how much beef the japanese want to buy from us but consider the scenario if we were testing to their standards when the cow in washington tests positive. the japanese went to australia to investigate larger purchases; its not inconceivable they would be talking to us as well or instead. we are relying too heavily on the americans and they know it and love it. it doesnt take a deep thinker to realize that diverse markets are more reliable. with universal testing we can only gain credibility as far as food safety is concerned. the meat cuts were shipping to the states are at best second prize. they are just throwing us a bone so to speak and its only for those good american corporate citizens - tyson and cargill who have probably had some input into the present situation.

[rusty1]

jensend "maybe the good science is to prove we will not put an unsafe product into the human food chain". I agree, the fact remains, the real danger to human health from BSE derived from beef is totaly PERCIEVED. If the International bodies would place BSA in the rightful catagory, (in comparison to say smoking) then there would be no need for testing any more than we were post 520.

[cowman]

In the end the consumer will decide what is safe. I believe there is a slow realization that something is just not quite right with our food supply.
The CBC story on France. The article in the Globe and Mail. A lot of people read the Globe and Mail and a lot of people watch the National? And how about the interview with the farmer from Calmar?
The Canadian public bought the "one cow" theory. They might buy the "two cow" theory? At what point do they stop buying it?
If the government continues to dither and kiss the American butt, one day we will wake up and find that no one wants our beef! The price we get for our old cows right now might look pretty good to what could be coming down the road. When the moneys all gone and that old cow can't even pay the freight to the slaughter house what will we do? I hope you all got your guns registered and can buy the ammo, because that might be the only solution? Another dry year and I suspect the guns will be busy this fall?
NAFTA could force us to take American beef. But do you think it would sell if it wasn't tested when ours was? When it sat on the shelf besides meat that had been tested and clearly said so?
I believe the consumer will drag us into being safe meat producers, whether we like it or not. Frankly the "science" is just too shaky to install confidence! And eventually the American consumer will do the same down there. We have a very clear model of how this works in Europe and Japan. Safe food, markets back to normal. What is the problem?

[ValueChainFX]

There is nothing in the rules that say we cannot go beyond the requirements! Good management tells us that we should first perceive a challenge and try to deal with it before it happens! If we built another lab that could test for BSE that same lab would be used for other things as well! Food safe issues will be in our faces always so why not be prepared. Yes we always have to fight for air with the politics and protectionists, but as we sit an count our losses daily does that help? You can't steer (no pun intended) a parked car! Since the French started testing their meat sales have gone up and confidence in the system seems high. Also their tracking system will soon allow a consumer to get every piece of information about the animal they desire from the net! Looking at this from a producer point of view, you will be able to get the information from the net as well! Maybe you can finally get some end of the line information on what your animals are doing in the market place and in turn use this information to run your business?

[jensend]

rusty1 = i know exactly what youre saying about the perceived danger being greater than the real danger but to our consumers perception is reality and there comes a point where for our own good we quit trying to educate them and give them what they want for our own good.

[rsomer]

What the science says is that nvCJD occurred in Britain at only ¼ the rate of CJD. CJD has been known to infect about 1 in 1 million people annually world wide for many years, possibly as a result of genetics.
Britian has a disaster. Hundred of thousands of British cows were infected with BSE and for many years these cows were processed and became part of the food supply without any safety measures such as removal of SRMs. Even so, the expected epidemic of nvCJD never happened. There is a woman in the U.S. right now dying of nvCJD. This woman has had nvCJD for several years with no impact on North American beef markets. CJD is a very rare disease, nvCJD is 4 times as rare in Britain and almost unknown elsewhere in the world.
We do not have hundreds of thousands of cows in Canada or North America infected with BSE. We have one proven case of BSE in Canada as well the United States has had one positive BSE test. Where the Washington Holstein got BSE has yet to be determined. And unlike Britain we took measures immediately to protect the safety of our nations food supply.
The surveillance testing that is being done is focused towards those animals that are most likely to be infected with BSE, that is downers, etc. As well cows from the general cow population are being tested. Surveillance testing is to be increased, however surveillance testing is not to be confused with food safety.
The safety of the beef our consumers eat is assured by removal of the SRMs. Even if a BSE positive cow were slaughtered as happened in Washington, the meat is considered safe because the parts of the animal thought to be potentially infectious are removed. In Canada our system has always kept BSE positives out of the food chain and a BSE positive cow will never enter the food chain in this country. The U.S. is changing their protocols so a BSE positive cow never enters their food chain again.
I think the real focus of our concerns should be the development of a rational and unified approach to BSE by all NAFTA trading partners. The United States’ two faced, Jekyll and Hyde response to BSE in North American is the real problem. On the one hand consumers see the United States telling their consumers that U.S. beef is safe after meat from a known BSE positive cow entered the food supply of eight states while on the other hand the U.S. is banning Canadian product and live cattle from the U.S. This sends a very wrong message to consumers throughout North America. This kind of blatant politically motivated protectionism may have be intended to provide a competitive advantage for U.S. beef producers but in the end it will only serve to hurt all beef producers as consumer confidence is eroded. It needs to stop right now.
I believe our food supply is fine, what is not quite right is U.S. politics.

[cowman]

Here is something that everyone should be asking. If the "science' says one thing then why are the "scientists" not sticking to that science? Why did they slaughter 450 calves and dispose of their bodies when the scince says no way could these calves have had BSE?
If we remove all SRMs how is that done? I assume the animal is split? Right down the backbone? Right through the spinal cord?
Would the BSE prion then be spread all along the cut? Would the BSE prion then be on the saw blade? It is almost impossible to disinfect the prion...so much so that when autopsies are performed on people with CJD they leave the surgical tools right in the body?
When they tell us that CJD infects only 1 out of 1 million, how do we explain the study quoted in the Fidoruk article that stated 13% of dead Alzheimers patients actually had CJD? If there are 364,000 Alzheimer deaths in Canada that would suggest about 41,000 were actually from CJD? If that were true would we have reason for some concern? We need some answers to these things.

[ValueChainFX]

Cowman, that is a good point, although in many cases (since the srm removal began) the animals are not split through the spinal cord They are split on each side of the back bone. Somewhat messy.

[cowman]

So in other words they chew up the rib eye, the strip loin, the tenderloin, the sirloin? That sounds fairly profitable!
I never split an animal I'm going to butcher. Just take off the meat and leave the bones intact. An old Serb showed me how and it is a lot faster than traditional ways(and a whole lot easier as gravity does most of the work). You still get all the cuts, just no bones! Saves space in the freezer too.

[ValueChainFX]

Cowman, yes, some of them do! I agree with you about boning off the rail, especially for the ones that need those backbones out! Makes a real nice job!