Latest Slaughterhouse Stories

By Charles Abbott WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. beef is free of materials that could spread mad cow disease, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said on Thursday, but an independent report questioned whether the assurance was iron clad. The Agriculture Department inspector general's office said a spot check of slaughterhouses found no instances of banned cattle parts entering the food supply. But the inspector general's report also questioned whether the program that tested cattle for mad...

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia will re-arrange zoning for the poultry industry, banning farms and slaughterhouses in the teeming capital in a bid to stop the spread of the bird flu virus that has killed four people, an official said on Thursday. "Looking ahead we will rearrange the poultry industry in Indonesia to prevent the passing of zoonotic diseases from animals to humans," Mathur Riady, director-general of poultry at the Agriculture Ministry told reporters. "For instance, there...

By Randy Fabi WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Canadian animal health inspectors accidentally approved the export of a 31-month-old cow to the United States, violating strict U.S. safeguards to prevent mad cow disease, a U.S. Agriculture Department official said on Monday. The mistake prompted a Wisconsin meat plant late Friday to recall voluntarily 1,856 pounds of beef that may contain the backbone of the imported cow. The USDA said some of the meat may have already been consumed. "It is very,...