"mad cow" news and stories

Japan will soon begin to import beef from the U.S. again, after a nearly three year hiatus, according to the Associated Press. Japanese officials stopped importing U.S. beef in 2003 out of concerns about BSE or mad cow disease. Trade began once since then, but was quickly halted again when a shipment of veal was found to contain spinal chord, which is often suspect in transmitting BSE. The U.S. has already asked that trade not be halted completely should something similar happen again, Reuters reported. Many U.S. beef industry folk welcome the news, as Japan was the largest importer of U.S. beef in 2003, importing $1.4 billion worth.

The USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service is seeking to increase the number of substances that could be used on cows that are to be deemed organic. CattleNetwork.com has a list of all eight substances, most of which are used to combat maladies common to feedlot cattle. The list includes bismuth subsalicylate, the active ingredient in Pepto-Bismol, which would be used for stomach ulcer relief, as well as poloxalene, used to keep cattle from getting bloated. Both bloating and ulcers are often the result of a corn-heavy diet that grass-eating cows aren't used to. NewsTarget.com also reports on the proposed changes, but with a bit more of a slant than CattleNetwork.

The USDA announced this week that it will reduce the number of cattle tested for mad cow disease by 90 percent, the Associated Press reported. Agricultural Secretary Mike Johanns said Thursday that testing one percent of the 35 million cows slaughtered annually in the U.S. is more than what's necessary. The number of cattle tested on a daily basis will now fall from 1,000 to around 110. Current testing costs are approximately $1 million per week, according to the AP. "There is no significant BSE problem in the United States," Johanns said, "and after all of this surveillance, I am able to say there never was."