New Test of meat approved by USDA

[TOM4CWB]

Incognito;

We are starting to move towards new benchmarks in testing;

DTN AG NEWS

"RAPID CWD TESTING APPROVED BY USDA

Efoora Inc. today announced that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has approved the PDL CWD Rapid Antigen Test for use in the surveillance of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in white tail deer. A transmissible neurological disease that affects white tail deer, mule deer and elk, CWD falls in the class of diseases called Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSE) -- the same pathogen class that causes Mad Cow Disease (BSE) in cattle and scrapie in sheep. This is the first product developed by Efoora Inc. that has received United States government approval...

The PDL CWD Rapid Antigen Test employs a proprietary lateral flow strip test technology. The major advantages of the PDL test are that it is simple, fast, and does not require sophisticated equipment. Results can be reported in approximately one hour. Validation testing yielded 100% Positive Predictive Value and 96% Negative Predictive Value when the PDL test was used on samples harvested from the white tail deer populations in Wisconsin. Currently, the same platform is being tested for use in detection of BSE and other TSE diseases."

[crusher]

Tom,
Thanks for keeping us up to date on issues effecting the ag world.

[TOM4CWB]

More DTN news;

"Top Stories
03/04 11:00
* A new BSE case is suspected in Japan, the Associated Press reported. If confirmed, it would be the country's 11th incident. The infected cow was born before Japan banned meat and bone meal in cattle feed.

* The Bush Administration will soon announce plans to expand testing for BSE to "hundreds of thousands" of U.S. cattle this year, according to the Wall Street Journal. Additional testing will be done to assure U.S. consumers and Japanese buyers of the safety of the U.S. meat supply, the Journal said.

* Mexico ended its ban on some U.S. beef and will begin accepting import permits on deboned meat from cows less than 30 months old and veal meat from calves less than 9 months old. See DTN AgDaily News.

* The government has started a criminal investigation into whether records were falsified in the first and only case of mad cow disease in the United States. See DTN AgDaily News.

Japan Waiting on BSE Talks
03/04 09:07
TOKYO (Dow Jones) -- A top Japanese farm ministry official indicated Thursday that conditions for resuming negotiations with the U.S. over the resumption of beef imports from the country have yet to be set, pointing to a scandal in the U.S. Agriculture Department, the Kyodo news service reported.

Mamoru Ishihara, vice minister for agriculture, forestry and fisheries, told a press conference that Japan is unlikely to agree to resume negotiations without the U.S. clearing up the suspicion that a Holstein cow confirmed to be infected with mad cow disease last December was not a so- called "downer," cattle which are too sick or injured to walk, Kyodo reported.

The suspicion has been taken up in the U.S. Congress and Phyllis Fong, inspector general of the U.S. Agriculture Department, has launched a criminal investigation into the allegation.

"I do not think they (the U.S.) will enter discussions with Japan before the investigation by the inspector is settled," Ishihara said, Kyodo reported.

Rejecting Japan's demand for blanket testing of all cattle to determine if they are free of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), the U.S. government has argued that the safety of beef products can be ensured if high-risk cattle such as downers are under strict monitoring.

Ishihara indicated the result of the investigation could undermine the credibility of such a U.S. policy on BSE, Kyodo reported."

[TOM4CWB]

"USDA misses BSE-testing goal

While agency aimed for 1,205 samples, only 781 were collected

By Sandi Doughton

Seattle Times


SEATTLE - The federal government fell short of its goal for mad cow tests last year in the Northwest, where the nation's first case of the brain-wasting disease was found just before Christmas.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's surveillance plan says it would take at least 1,205 tests to adequately monitor the five-state area, which includes Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Utah. But the agency collected only 781 samples, less than two-thirds of the target.

In all other regions of the country, the agency exceeded its goals, bringing the total number of tests to about 20,000 in the 2003 fiscal year, which ended in October.

USDA senior staff veterinarian Lisa Ferguson says the agency didn't meet its target for the Northwest because few suitable slaughterhouses would participate in the voluntary testing program.

Nationwide, testing has plummeted after discovery of the mad cow case near Yakima, Wash., announced Dec. 23.

Only 1,608 animals were tested in January, down from 3,064 in December. Those numbers don't include animals killed and tested in January as part of the investigation into the Yakima mad cow case.

At Vern's Moses Lake Meats, the slaughterhouse where the infected cow was killed, no animals have been tested since Dec. 24, co-owner Tom Ellestad says.

"USDA requested us to stop taking samples," he says.

Ellestad didn't know why USDA made the request.

Agency spokesman Jim Rogers says he wasn't familiar with the situation at Vern's. He says the national drop-off is because of the fact that, in response to the infected cow, "downer" animals were banned from the human food chain shortly after Christmas and no longer are being shipped to slaughterhouses, where the testing effort had been concentrated."

[k-way]

Thanks for sending this along. The US story just keeps on getting more twisted doesn't it?

[TOM4CWB]

K-Way;

Isn't this interesting!

DTN;
"US/Canada Border News Soon
03/04 15:20
WASHINGTON (OsterDowJones) -- Results are expected soon from ongoing talks between the U.S. and Canada on how to get U.S. beef shipments flowing back into Canada, an administrator for the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Thursday.

Bobby Acord, administrator of USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, told OsterDowJones that he expects a break in the stalemate between the two countries over rules blocking U.S. beef exports "in the near future."

In order to re-start U.S. exports, Acord said the USDA is considering lifting a restriction on Canadian beef that requires it come from a supply line that is dedicated to providing beef only from cattle under 30 months of age.

The USDA implemented this restriction last year after Canada reported a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, commonly known as mad-cow disease, in May.

When asked if the USDA would lift the restriction, Acord said, "That's one of the options that's being discussed, yes."

Canada agreed not to ban U.S. beef after it also reported a case of BSE in December, but Canada turned the U.S. beef segregation requirement back on the U.S., stopping its exports.

USDA Chief Economist Keith Collins said recently that Canada continues to ask: "Why, if you're requiring that from us, shouldn't we require that from you?"

Collins said it is not possible in the U.S because "we do not harvest animals under 30 months (of age) on a dedicated line."

The U.S. exported 86,613 metric tons of beef to Canada from January through November last year, worth $310 million, according to USDA data compiled by the U.S. Meat Export Federation."

(CZ)

[cowman]

TOM: You must realize that it is very unlikely another cow will ever be found with BSE in the US, or for that matter in Canada either. In fact Ralph Kleins suggestion of shoot, shovel, and shutup is definitely the order of the day! Mad cow in the USA is a dirty little secret that has been going on for quite sometime now...long before the Washington cow! Consider that now no downer cattle are accepted at any plant in the USA and defacto Canada. Testing numbers are actually decreasing in the US and I wonder just what they are testing? Probably veal calves?
Our so called cattle organizations, the ABP/CCA, have done everything in their power to discredit the idea of testing! Why? Because in fact they represent the packer interest and not the cattleman!
The North American Beef industry has actually decided to fudge this one and hope the public can be fooled! So far it looks like it is working very well.