Link to a story about live cattle from Canada are about to be allowed to be imported again. The main pathway of spread of the disease, animal feed, remains a problem. Of course the government is saying the risk is minimal.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004012821_meat14m.htmlExcerpt:
After the Mabton cow was found in 2003, the USDA promised to set up a system to trace tainted meat back to the farm. And it promised to clamp down on feed regulations to prevent the disease's spread. But consumer groups have been complaining for years that the government hasn't done most of those things.
The promised tracking system never materialized. And regulations intended to keep the risky meat products out of animal feed — the primary pathway believed to spread the disease from animal to animal — remain among the weakest in the world. The USDA also scaled back what was initially billed as a large-scale mad-cow testing program. The region's only mad-cow testing lab was closed last March.
Further, country-of-origin labeling rules adopted in 2002 won't be implemented until September 2008.
"They left loopholes, they didn't follow through, and our firewalls are not as tight as they should be," said Chris Waldrop, director of the Food Policy Institute of the Consumer Federation of America, which has joined with 10 other plaintiffs in suing the USDA in U.S. District Court in South Dakota.
