MAD COW DISEASE FOUND IN THE UNITED STATES

[wd9]

When most large beef trading countries have confirmed cases of BSE, does that then open the majority of the trade again?

[TOM4CWB]

Wd9;

If Canada were to individually test each beef animal (as happens in Japan now) I understand Japan would accept our exports now.

I know Alberta is in the process of setting up testing facilities as we speak...

We have certainly entered a new world of food safety... no doubt about it!

[gmj]

I thought Paul Martin was going to make sure things would be different now that he is in charge, but instead we have a new Ag Minister who doesn't consult the beef farmers and closes the border to some US beef products anyway. When will we get politicians who will actually listen to the wills of the primary producers?

[cowman]

I think the Canadian government has to look out for the health of its people and food safety? Their responsibility is also to the Canadian consumer and not just what the cattle industry might want? If the experts at the food safety end of it say the border should be closed to certain types of meat, do you think the government should ignore them?
After all if they were only playing politics they could ignore the science and slam that border shut. I think Martin and Speller are doing the right thing and following the science instead of acting like the Americans did. We should all be applauding our government in how they are handling this. They are showing themselves to be fair and decent traders, unlike our southern neighbors?

[boone]

cowman, I couldn't agree more. I think it was a proper and measured response. Everyone should keep in mind there will be more information moving behind the scenes than we could know.(good post)

[TOM4CWB]

Incognito and Cowman;

Canada can negotiate just as well after import restrictions are imposed on US beef no question.

But will we, that is the question.

IS beef in Canada and the US safe at this moment?

Scientifically I would suggest it is, especially since "downer" cattle are being rejected in both countries now.

There may be some justification in restricting beef from the PNW, as some feed mills have not followed ruminant restrictions to the letter of the law on feed manufacture over the past few years... which could have a cause and effect on this BSE case. Dairy cattle are most at risk here because few beef cows are fed prepared feed anywhere near the levels of milk cows.

[cowman]

TOM: I would suggest Canadas response was entirely appropriate. Let the muscle cuts/no bone/under 30 months into the country. Exactly the same standards as the Americans require of our beef. The difference is we didn't wait 5 months to allow this to happen. Do you think it would be fair to allow hamburger from Washington dairy cows(perhaps even THE cow) to be fed to our population?
Of course we want to treat the Americans fair...and I repeat a lot more fairer than they treated us. But I don't believe our government should compromise Canadians food safety just to prove a point or appease the Americans.
Is Canadian beef safe? Is American beef safe? Actually we don't know. But if all beef was tested then we would know it was safe. There is a new test coming down the pipes. It is cheap. It is quick. Both our governments need to get with the program and put some money behind it and make testing mandatory. Then there will be no question that our beef is safe and acceptable anywhere in the world. It is a new day in the North American beef market and time to start thinking in a new way.

[TOM4CWB]

Incognito;

I see this on DTN this morning:

"Investigators Trace Diseased Cow to Canada

12/27 10:43a CST
EMILY GERSEMA

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Holstein infected with mad cow disease in Washington state was imported into the United States from Canada about two years ago, federal investigators tentatively concluded Saturday.

Dr. Ron DeHaven, chief veterinarian for the Agriculture Department, said Canadian officials have provided records that indicate the animal was one of a herd of 74 cattle that were shipped from Alberta, Canada, into this country in 2001 at Eastport, Idaho.

"These animals were all dairy cattle and entered the U.S. only about two or two-and-a-half years ago, so most of them are still likely alive," DeHaven said.

He emphasized that just because the sick cow was a member of that herd, it does not mean that all 74 animals are infected.

Based on the Canadian records, the cow was 6 1/2-years-old - older than U.S. officials had thought, DeHaven said. U.S. papers on the cow said she was 4- or 4 1/2-years-old."

Here we go again....

[cowman]

TOM: This is a sad day for everyone. The Americans are going to smear us big time...and maybe with some justification? If we'd listened to the Japanese and done the damned testing we would look a lot better?
In reality part of the blame should go to the Americans. We didn't go that route because it would make them look bad if they didn't test. But a whole lot more of the blame has to go to our "industry leaders" for pooh-poohing the whole idea of a test. Why is it the Japanese can do a test but no one else can? This whole mess could be cleared up tommorrow if we do the test. Will it cost money...for sure! A whole lot of money! But what is the alternative? Reduced consumer confidence, falling prices, the death of an industry? And I think you know when the cattle business crashes big time it will drag a whole lot of other businesses down with it!
Food safety cannot be a PR campaign! We need the real deal! Test the damned cows!

[boone]

cowman; could the size of the cold storage needed to warehouse a continuous stream of carcass beef be part of the resistance? The kill at High River daily times what (six days) for results. Does anybody have the numbers? And then there is Brooks etc.

[TOM4CWB]

Cowman and Boone;

I understand AAFRD is in the process of setting up a lab much like the level 5 secure facility in Winnipeg... and has been in the process of putting this facility together for many months. I heard it from a Deputy Minister in November. THis new facility will have the capibility of doing research into many animal based deseases not just BSE.

Much of the EU checks every beef animal, just like Japan does. I understand much of our deer and elk individual carcases are checked now in Alberta for cronic wasteing desease.

The samples would be matched up with specific carcases in cold storage that are ageing... and in 2-3 days a clearance is given from the sample, then that carcas is released when cleared through the test.

The US has suggested this can be done quickly (2-3days) and for 2-3 cents per pound when integrated into a normally operating processing industry.

Too bad we did not agree with the Japanese 6 months ago and implement this type of system in Canada.

[TOM4CWB]

Incognito;

THis was on DTN Ag News;

Other Media on BSE
12/26 14:15

A scientist who won the Nobel Prize for identifying prions as the source of BSE warned Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman six weeks ago that "it was just a matter of time" before BSE showed up in the U.S., the New York Times reported December 26. The only reason the disease had not shown up previously, the paper quoted Stanley Prusiner as saying, was that USDA tests too few animals. Test more, he said, and "we'll be able to understand the magnitude of our problem."

Prusiner, a neurologist at the University of California at San Francisco, said fast, accurate and inexpensive tests are available, including one that he has patented through his university. He said every cow showing signs of illness should be tested and eventually the U.S. should follow Japan in testing every single animal upon slaughter.

Before Prusiner proposed his prion theory in 1988, scientists thought BSE and other spongiform encephalopathies were caused by a slow-acting virus. Prions are proteins that can fold themselves into alternative shapes that have lethal properties and cause a runaway reaction in nervous tissue. "We want to keep prions out of the mouths of humans," the paper quotes Prusiner as saying. "We don't know what they might be doing to us."

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