Blocked by US, meatpacker sues to do mad cow tests

By Charles Abbott

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Meatpacker John Stewart sued the
U.S. government on Wednesday for access to cattle testing kits
so his Kansas company can prove to customers, especially in mad
cow-leery Japan, that its beef is safe.

Stewart’s firm, Creekstone Farms Premium Beef LLC, wants to
test all its slaughter cattle for mad cow disease. Its suit in
U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., would force the
Agriculture Department to give it access to kits to test for
the brain-wasting disease.

The suit was applauded by consumer groups. But USDA, which
convinced Japan to drop its own universal testing program,
opposes private testing of cattle. Mad cow incubates for years,
USDA says, and “is not detected in young animals,” the bulk of
the 35 million U.S. cattle slaughtered for beef each year.

Mad cow is always fatal in cattle. People can contract a
deadly human version of the disease by eating contaminated
meats. No U.S.-origin cases are known.

USDA says its tests show a low incidence of mad cow
disease, formally named bovine spongiform encephalopathy, in
America. Three cases have been found since December 2003.

The odds of finding a case through independent testing of
young cattle are “very, very, very low,” Stewart told
reporters. Creekstone wants to “provide an additional layer of
confidence” to customers in markets like Japan by doing the
tests.

“I would not refer to it as a (marketing) gimmick,” said
Stewart, the founder and chief executive of Creekstone.

Creekstone filed suit while the United States was trying
for the second time to persuade Japan to reopen its borders to
U.S. beef and while USDA was preparing to scale down its
“surveillance” tests used to gauge U.S. levels of mad cow.

“It’s off down the trail on something that is not justified
by science or international standards,” said Agriculture
Secretary Mike Johanns when asked about the lawsuit after
touring a fuel ethanol plant in south-central Minnesota.

The Consumers Union, which has called for USDA to test all
cattle over the age of 20 months for mad cow, said Creekstone
should be allowed to test for the disease.

“The fact of the matter is our food system is not
foolproof,” said Urvashi Rangan, a senior scientist and policy
analyst for the consumer group. “There is plenty of room for
additional steps to be taken. Why not give companies the right
to do that?”

Critics in the cattle industry said Creekstone was trying
to hijack food safety regulations for financial advantage. The
American Meat Institute, representing meatpackers, said BSE
testing almost always is a government function worldwide.

Public health is protected not by mad-cow tests, a USDA
spokesman said, but by federal rules that ban the use of cattle
parts in cattle feed and require the removal from carcasses of
older cattle the brains, spinal columns and nervous tissue most
at risk of carrying the infective agent for mad cow.

Japan banned U.S. beef for two years following the first
U.S. case of mad cow. It resumed purchases in late 2005 under
stringent rules and suspended trade on January 20 after finding
forbidden spinal material in a shipment of veal.

USDA said it would press for reopening of trade during
discussions next week on meat inspection rules but Japanese
officials say no meetings were scheduled. Japan has asked
repeatedly how USDA will prevent more beef-trade violations.

In its suit, Creekstone challenged USDA’s use of a 1913 law
to prevent access to rapid-screening tests for mad cow. USDA
does not allow private testing for BSE.

Since June 2004, USDA has tested roughly 660,000 cattle for
mad cow, nearly all older animals and cattle with possible
symptoms. The enhanced surveillance tests found two of the
three U.S. cases. Some $105 million was allotted for the tests.

USDA has not suggested how many cattle would be tested
under a “maintenance” program but it requested enough money for
40,000 tests during the fiscal year opening October 1.

Based in Arkansas City, Kansas, Creekstone slaughters about
300,000 head of cattle a year, making it a comparatively small
packer.