NewYork Times Headlines

[pandiana]

Does anyone have details of this story?

Official Tells of Investigation Into Mad Cow Discrepancies
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.
The government has begun a criminal investigation into
whether documents were falsified in the lone case of mad
cow disease found in the United States

[farmboy1]

It was in the local paper today. Apparently, this is related to the former worker who blew the whistle on the plant that processed the cow. It appears that, although the cow was officially classified as a downer, she was not actually a downer. The plot thickens.

[kato]

I read a USDA response the other day that said that when the vet inspected the cow she was down in the trailer. Apparently she later got up and walked into the plant.

Splitting hairs, I would say. The meat packer is apparently insulted that he has been labelled as a plant that specializes in down cows.

[rsomer]

For those interested the link is http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49516-2004Feb17.html
For me the confusion about whether or not the Washington Holstein was a downer or a walker underlines my concern about whether or not the cow traced to Canada was actually the cow that had BSE. I am sure one cow slaughtered at Vern’s Moses Lake Meats had BSE but which one?
It is incredible to see the confusion, lack of professionalism, rules established and then not followed, inability to trace animals and general chaos that seems to part and parcel of the U.S. meat system. The Canadian system is way ahead of the U.S. The CFIA were doing a much better job of looking after the safety of our food. I guess the proof of that is the May 20 cow did not enter the food system while the Americans have eaten their BSE cow months ago.
This inquiry could lead to all OTM animals in the U.S. being tested for BSE.
Whatever comes of it I hope it doesn’t delay the reopening of the comment period and the opening of trade to live cattle with the U.S.

[kato]

Don't forget.. once the Canadians got the cow's number it only took a couple of hours, if that, to locate her place of birth.

I think the problems lie south of the border, not north.

[grassfarmer]

I also have severe doubts whether the cow they found with BSE in Washington actually belonged with the eartag they pulled out of the garbage can later. I read somewhere that a US producer group was going to be suing the US government because of the market losses incurred in the few days after the discovery on the grounds that if the Gov. knew it was a Canadian they should have disclosed that immediately which would have prevented the martet collapse.
One thing I do not agree with rsomer, we are smarter in Canada because our case didn't get into the foodchain. That is complete BS - we were "lucky" because she had pneumonia as well as being a downer with BSE - she was condemned because of the pneumonia not the BSE. I think we should stop shouting on this particular aspect as it really doesn't hold water.

[k-way]

Everyone is just taking what's being said on the "downer or not" issue at face value. You tell me - how many cows did this plant slaughter that day? And how many were inspected by the vet? The vets are the only ones required to keep any records and yet they are the ones being questioned. How is it possible that the trucker, the plant owner, and several other people ALL seem to suddenly "remember" this specific cow out of all the rest (especially many days later instead of the day it was an issue)?

Grassfarmer: I agree that we were lucky not smarter in our own case. But we still have a much better system that the Yanks (though not even close to perfect). But I would suspect that the US system is bad on purpose; it keeps the problems from becoming visible (from the industry standpoint anyway). If you've ever seen footage from some of their plants, you'd get the same feeling!

[rsomer]

grassfarmer: I know what you mean although I would think if we were really lucky the May 20 cow would have died out in the field. Luck yes, but Canada has found 2 BSE positives, one May 20 and the other 10 years ago and both were kept from the food chain. Sometimes we make our luck, although that is not to say it couldn’t happen here.
I am not sure if things are really that lax in the U.S. or if the initial confusion we saw with the Washington cow was to hide a larger truth. First the USDA announces on Dec. 23 they have a probable BSE positive on a 4 ½ year old Holstein cow, on Dec 27 after two limit down moves on the CME live cattle futures they announce oh, by the way, she had a Canadian ear tag. After Canadian officials quickly point out that the cow with that ear tag was 6 ½ years old the USDA comes back and says oops... The Washington Holstein was slaughtered on December 9. How come it took the USDA until December 27 to realize she had a Canadian tag in her ear at time of slaughter. And when the age of the BSE cow did not match the ear tag the USDA simple changes the age of the cow. And now we have one person saying the cow he tested was not a downer and a USDA inspector saying the BSE cow couldn’t walk. Well which cow was it, make up your mind. Nothing adds up now and it did not add up then. I think if you read between the lines of the Report of the International Review Committee that looked into the Washington Holstein they were not fooled either when they pointed out that this couldn’t be viewed as a Canadian problem.

[k-way]

Rsomer: Exactly!

[grassfarmer]

I agree but unfortunately the US have managed to weasel out of their part of the problem and now it remains purely a Canadian problem. We have to deal with that reality.

[kato]

As much as the U.S. would like it to be a Canadian problem, the rest of the world doesn't see it that way.