Another Mad Cow

A dairy cow in California tested positive this week for BSE or mad cow disease.

The USDA said there is no threat to the food supply because the cow's body never made it to the rendering vat. It does leave a question about the cow's milk. The public consumed that milk. And although it's not known if mad cow disease can be transmitted to humans from cows' milk, it is known that scrapie, the parallel disease in sheep, can be transmitted to lambs via milk:

"Last year researchers demonstrated that the ingestion of as little as 1 to 2 quarts of milk from scrapie-infected sheep stricken with mastitis could cause prion infection in lambs at an attack rate of 86%."

The Reuters article said USDA tests 40,000 of 34 million cattle slaughtered in a year. That's 0.1%. I'm reminded of this post: Mad Cow: "Don't Look, Don't Find" (a quote from Jean Halloran, then Director of the Consumer Policy Institute at Consumer's Union, describing USDA's mad cow policy), where I discovered:

• Japan tests nearly 100% of its slaughtered cattle.
• The European Union tests about 30%.
• The US tests about 0.1%.

Not only doesn't the USDA test adequately for mad cow, it prohibits private companies from testing (and sues if they do):

"Detection of BSE is needlessly hindered by the fact that USDA prohibits private companies from testing their own beef. Private testing could augment USDA testing and provide an extra measure of monitoring and assurance of safety to consumers. USDA only tests cattle that are sent to the renderer and doesn’t test at slaughterhouses. We find it hard to understand why USDA prohibits private companies from testing."
- Consumers Union Statement On BSE Positive Cow, 24 April, 2012

And...

"The Agriculture Department is within bounds to bar meatpackers from testing slaughter cattle for mad cow disease, a U.S. Court of Appeals panel said in a 2-1 ruling on Friday."
- Court Bars Meatpacker Tests For Mad Cow, Reuters, August, 2008

Why does USDA prohibit private testing? If BSE is found to be more pervasive than thought, it would be costly for the cattle industry and could damage public trust in the food supply. The USDA exists in part to promote the beef industry and to ensure trust in the food supply.

The Organic Consumers Association says:

"We suspect there are many other USA Mad Cows confined in feedlots and factory scale dairies."

I think so. ________Photo of a "cow carousel" at Clauss Dairy Farms in Hilmar, California from thekitchn.com. Not related to the farm in Hanford, CA where the mad cow was discovered.