U.S. Finds BSE Positive Cow

[cowman]

Maybe I am naive or something but I get a bad feeling when people talk about conspiracies or talk about food inspection agencies covering up and being deceptive?
I've heard the stories before and have actually reported some of them here, but I never believed the USDA was intentionally covering anything up?
I wonder what would happen if the general public(guys like me) lost faith in our food safety system?
I do not see this as a positive thing. If there is any basis to this cow/test, I sure hope it isn't shown they were fudging the whole thing! When the consumer believes their food agencies are not straight then it will be "Katie bar the door", because no one will believe anything they say!
The people who are in charge of food safety must be above politics!

[farmers_son]

Note: Officially according to the USDA this BSE positive is still an inconclusive test result. Even though the Western Blot test is an OIE recognized test the U.S. is not owning up to their domestic case of BSE.

http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_1OB?contentidonly=true&contentid=2005/06/0206.xml

STATEMENT BY DR. JOHN CLIFFORD REGARDING FURTHER ANALYSIS OF BSE INCONCLUSIVE TEST RESULTS

June 10, 2005

"Since the USDA enhanced surveillance program for BSE began in June 2004, more than 375,000 animals from the targeted cattle population have been tested for BSE using a rapid test. Three of these animals tested inconclusive and were subsequently subjected to immunohistochemistry, or IHC, testing. The IHC is an internationally recognized confirmatory test for BSE. All three inconclusive samples tested negative using IHC.
"Earlier this week, USDA's Office of the Inspector General (OIG), which has been partnering with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the Food Safety and Inspection Service, and the Agricultural Research Service by impartially reviewing BSE-related activities and making recommendations for improvement, recommended that all three of these samples be subjected to a second internationally recognized confirmatory test, the OIE-recognized SAF immunoblot test, often referred to as the Western blot test. We received final results a short time ago. Of the three samples, two were negative, but the third came back reactive.
"Because of the conflicting results on the IHC and Western blot tests, a sample from this animal will be sent to the OIE-recognized reference laboratory for BSE in Weybridge, England. USDA will also be conducting further testing, which will take several days to complete.

[farmers_son]

The Western Blot test has never had a false positive in over 18 million tests. The cow in question would have tested positive twice with rapid tests and now positive with the Western Blot test. There would seem to be little doubt that the U.S. has their first domestic case of BSE.

[Willowcreek]

cowman- I agree with you that if it comes back positive, USDA loses all credibility and reliability...What makes this worse is that it was found by an Inspectors Generals Office audit, not by just a repeat test by their own people...Makes it look deceptive then, even if it wasn't...

[farmers_son]

There is an excellent question and answer session regarding the U.S. BSE positive cow at:

http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_1OB?contentidonly=true&contentid=2005/06/0207.xml

There are other instances where the IHC test has been negative and the Western Blot test positive. Rather than the credibility of the USDA being questioned, the ultimate question will be should we be using the IHC test, the Western Blot test, or some other test to confirm BSE positives.

And while most if not everyone on this side of the border believed the USDA was covering up their BSE positives, especially the November 2004 cow, the focus now should be on maintaining consumer confidence rather than pointing out what a bunch of scoundrels the Americans are.

[whiteface]

f_s, could you please explain to me how any consumer can be expected to have any confidence whatsoever in a bunch of lying, deceitful gangsters who have reassured them to no end that they can be trusted and the tests used can be trusted and now they get to hear this? I think they'd be more willing to hold a gun to thier head with only one chamber holding a bullet and fire for a reward of 10 bucks. No way they should be expected to trust any of our politically scandalous governments. Still hope y'all have a good night and weekend, good luck everyone. I doubt this is going to be fun.

[grassfarmer]

Cowman, yes you are being naive it is obvious the Americans were going to get caught out cheating." The people who are in charge of food safety must be above politics!" should be the case - unfortunately it is not. I'd love to see the US realing being put through the mill over this one but realise that any form of consumer reaction and beef consumption drop will probably hurt us more than it hurts them. You can be sure if it happens that they would have no hesitation closing of our boxed beef imports with no qualms or justification. However I don't think the scale of BSE in N America will trigger the reaction it did in Japan or Europe - it is numerically totally insignificant and even the unworldly and uninformed American consumer will see that. They are also the most babied and gullible people in the world and would believe their politicians and mickey mouse media outlets like CNN if they told them the world was flat.

[jensend]

grassfarmer - would believe their politicians and mickey mouse media outlets like CNN if they told them the world was flat.

actually i think fox news beat cnn to the punch on that one.

[cowman]

I haven't really been up on the news lately, so what is the reaction from the CFIA? R-CALF? CCA and ABP?
Will Canada close the border if the test in England comes back positive? How about the countries that have reopened to US beef?
Has the world moved down the line on this whole BSE thing enough that this may just be a hiccup instead of a disaster? If this cow is positive for BSE will the USA finally realize we are not the bogeyman here? Hopefully the American consumer will not over react and maybe a light will come on in a few R-CALF heads!

[farmers_son]

R-CALF USA President Leo McDonnell was quoted as saying “This latest announcement reinforces what R-CALF has been saying all along, that if the United States is to continue to have the safest beef in the world, with the toughest safety standards in the world, we need to maintain and reinforce our … our import ban.” Based on these comments, R-Calf appears more than willing to sacrifice U.S. exports in their enthusiasm for keeping Canadian beef out of the U.S. If we were looking for a little light to come on in some R-Calf heads, I do not think it has happened yet.

I personally doubt there would be any international reaction. The rest of the world, including Canada, has taken the position that BSE was a North American problem since December 2003 and that the U.S. would have a low incidence of BSE similar to Canada.

I would not expect an overreaction from the U.S. consumer. There is no risk, food safety is assured by removal of SRMs, not BSE tests. While this positive result from a conclusive BSE test in the U.S. is very good news for Canadian producers as it certainly should pave the way for a quick normalization of trade within North American that is about the limit of its significance. Other than it might speed up U.S. efforts to put a workable trace back system in place for its domestic herd.

I hope the USDA is not going to try and weasel out of this. The latest reports from Reuters suggest it might be two weeks before the U.S. admits to having BSE. I think that would be very negative for the industry either way. The NCBA is asking for a quick conclusion and I think they are right. I believe the U.S. is contacting all its embassies to try and gauge the international reaction once a final announcement is made. I personally think the world has already made up its mind what the truth is regardless of any final announcement.

According to Reuters, the USDA is saying there might not be enough brain tissue to send to England. That they have used up all but 4 ounces in tests up to now. Unlike previous BSE suspect cases where the brain conveniently got lost, this will be the first time it simply got used up.