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Are We Safe From Mad Cow Yet?Ronald Porep, SafetyIssues |
Volume 3 Issue 26January 2004 |
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The Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) and the United
States Department of Agriculture
(USDA) are on the case
of Mad Cow Disease but do not load up your shopping cart yet with beef. There is a lot of work to be done and - as in all governmental regulation - many loopholes to be filled - some dating back to 2002 with no action in site yet. Examples: Outdated pet food can be used in ruminant
(cow, sheep and goat) feed. Poultry can't get mad-cow-like diseases, so feeding them protein meal made from rendered cattle has been considered safe. But poultry litter food they drop while eating, along with their excrement, feathers and bedding - can legally be fed to cattle. |
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Those are two great sources of Mad Cow because
feeding cattle to cattle is really the only way they get infected.
Critics of the livestock industry, as well as some within it, have long
argued that the best way to deal once and for all with the Mad Cow danger
is to totally ban the feeding of all ruminant-derived protein to any
living animal, including fish.So, why will we not see such a ban soon? Money and politics are the answers. "Mostly it has to do with political will. We have lots of rules in place, but they're not enforced with any kind of vigor. There's a general feeling that there's nobody minding the store. "Feeding cow parts to pigs, chickens and pets seems like asking for trouble," explains Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition and food studies at New York University and author of Safe Food. But politics is not the only reason Mad Cow will be hard to fight. Plain farm economy also makes enforcing the rules the government has and any rules it may create very difficult. "While big cattle feed yards wouldn't be caught dead touching ruminant feed, it's impossible to entirely end the practice. "It's some little Joe Blow who's got pigs and cows in his backyard and he's feeding them whatever. One thing I've learned being out in the field is this kind of stuff happens," describes animal-handling expert Temple Grandin. So, do not load up your shopping cart with beef quite yet as the FDA and the USDA have a while to go yet before you can be sure that package of beef you took from the grocery store meat counter will not make you sick. One thing you can do is let your Congressman know you want tighter food regulations so you know what you eat is safe for you and your loved ones. |
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