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2/22
2007
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FDA
News
Update
on Salmonella Outbreak and Peter Pan Peanut Butter and Great Value Peanut
Butter
The insides of a Salmonella outbreak
17.feb.07
Marler Clark
http://www.marlerblog.com/2007/02/articles/case-news/the-insides-of-a-salmonella-outbreak/
The last 48 hours at Marler Clark have been interesting we have responded
to nearly 1,000 emails or phone calls (thanks to a very hardworking staff)
from every part of the United States (and two foreign countries) - people
do eat a lot of peanut butter ? some of it was surely contaminated with
Salmonella.
The accents are all different North Dakota, Georgia, Massachusetts ? but
all tell a similar story of vomiting, diarrhea and fever. Some people,
and a lot of kids, had repeated bouts of illness. Hundreds that we have
spoken to spent time with their doctors or in ERs, and many have been
hospitalized. Many folks did not have insurance and simply could not seek
medical care because they could not afford it.
What is also interesting is that, although many of the callers report
symptoms consistent with salmonella poisoning, only about 10% report testing
positive for Salmonella in their stool. However, most report still having
jars of peanut butter with the 2111 code imprinted on the lid. We look
forward to testing the product.
This outbreak only underscores the problems with food poisoning surveillance
in the Untied States. People who are sick may or may not seek medical
attention, perhaps because they cannot afford it, or perhaps because they
wanted to just care for themselves or their children. So, no stool culture,
no contact with the Health Department, no way to figure out what the cause
of the outbreak is. Not figuring out the cause of the outbreak means that
we are bound to repeat it
The Trouble
With Peanut Butter: Salmonella
No one saw it coming but here it is: federal health officials are currently
investigating how salmonella made its way into jars of peanut butter.
Peanut butter is supposedly as safe as flowers ? well it was, because
nowadays eating from the wrong jar could very well send you to the hospital.
Although salmonella is usually associated with eggs, chickens, undercooked
meat, reptiles or unwashed hands and eating, peanut butter has become
a source too.
The infamous contamination at the ConAgra plant may have been caused by
dirty jars or equipment, according to government and industry officials.
In the production process, peanuts are usually heated to temperatures
that are so high that they kill germs, therefore they can¡¯t be suspected
of having generated the contamination.
Although ConAgra was very quick in responding to the situation, assuring
officials and the general public of their full cooperation in dealing
with the problem and subsequently issuing a recall of the contaminated
peanut butter jars, the company already has been the target of lawsuits
since the recall.
A Texas couple filed charges against ConAgra after their 5-year-old daughter
and 2-year-old son got sick. The lawsuit seeks damages for medical bills,
pain and suffering, and caps the damages at $75,000 for each child, their
lawyer said.
It's one of at least three lawsuits filed against ConAgra Foods, which
is recalling all Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter made at its Sylvester,
Georgia, plant. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 288
persons, from 39 states, had become infected with salmonella since last
August. About 85 percent of the infected people said they ate peanut butter.
No deaths have been reported.
A ConAgra spokeswoman has said the company takes consumer concerns seriously,
which is why it has recalled the peanut butter. ConAgra Foods Inc. has
also said its nationwide recall of peanut butter will cost between $50
million and $60 million, hurting its third-quarter earnings.
All of the jars of peanut butter involved have a product code on the lid
beginning with "2111," which denotes the plant. ConAgra said
customers may return the lids or full jars of peanut butter to the store
where they bought them for a refund.
Approximately 40,000 persons in the USA become infected with salmonella
each year; the infection is known as salmonellosis and can be fatal. Around
600 people die annually from it. Among the symptoms are diarrhea, fever,
dehydration, abdominal pain and vomiting.
The illness can be life-threatening to people in poor health or with weakened
immune systems so it should be treated with utmost seriousness.
Pa. Family
Sues Over Peanut Butter- A Pennsylvania family is suing Peter Pan peanut
butter, claiming one of them died and two others got sick.
February 22, 2007
The family from western Pa. says that, around Thanksgiving, William Barkay
ate some of the peanut butter and became violently ill. Then last month
his wife, 75-year-old Roberta Barkay, fell ill, too. She died on January
30th. Their daughter also got sick, after eating the peanut butter.
The family's four jars of Peter Pan were bought in November. All have
the recalled product code that starts with "2111."
7 Ohio salmonella
cases are linked
16.feb.07
Cleveland Plain Dealer OH)/AP/ Boston Herald (MA)/ The Wichita Eagle (KS)/
Illinois Daily Herald (IL)
Zachary Lewis
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1171620676309210.xml&coll=2
New and notable in dozens of stories from different states regarding the
peanut butter outbreak:
Seven cases of salmonella poisoning in Ohio have been linked to a national
outbreak apparently caused by tainted peanut butter.
Bethany Marshall of Wooster bought two jars of peanut butter from the
recalled batch at Wal-Mart. She and her husband have finished one jar
without developing salmonella symptoms, which can include diarrhea, fever,
dehydration, abdominal pain and vomiting, but was quoted as saying, "I'm
not going to buy that peanut butter ever again."
23-year-old Katie Kuba, who looked skeptically at the peanut butter shelf
at her neighborhood Shaw¡¯s store in Dorchester after learning about the
push to purge the shelves of Peter Pan, was quoted as saying, "It¡¯s
alarming that it¡¯s something like peanut butter. You wouldn¡¯t think peanut
butter, it¡¯s mostly spinach."
Lee Shiney of Wichita, who is among the Kansans who found peanut butter
with the 2111 code in his kitchen, was quoted as saying, "We've only
used it for cooking, so (we had) no side effects or anything. I figured
we'd just toss this out."
Des Plaines resident Eugene Melvin was cited as saying he has been sick
for more than a week and has eaten nearly an entire jar of the suspect
peanut butter. While he doesn¡¯t intend to seek medical treatment, a friend
who also ate the peanut butter and is sick plans to visit a doctor today.
¡°I'm not a doctor type of person,¡± says Mevlin, who added that his temperature
peaked at 103 degrees earlier this week. ¡°I was wondering what was wrong
with me.¡±
Conagra:
Peanut butter recall will cost $50 million-$60 million
20.feb.07
Associated Press
Josh Funk
OMAHA, Neb. -- ConAgra Foods Inc. was cited as saying Tuesday its nationwide
recall of peanut butter will cost between $50 million and $60 million,
hurting its third-quarter earnings.
Federal officials have linked the peanut butter to a salmonella outbreak
that has sickened almost 300 people nationwide since August. No deaths
have been reported.
The Omaha-based company said the recall costs of 6 cents to 8 cents a
share will drag its fiscal 2007 results to the lower end of its recent
forecast.
ConAgra chief executive Gary Rodkin was cited as telling analysts at a
conference in Arizona Tuesday that he was proud of the way the company
responded to the peanut butter concerns, and he's confident in the safety
of ConAgra's products, which include well-known brands such Healthy Choice,
Banquet and Chef Boyardee.
Action lawsuit
over peanut butter illnesses
20.feb.07
Seattle Times (WA)
Carol M. Ostrom
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/
A Kent woman and a Bellingham man have filed a class-action lawsuit against
a Nebraska-based food manufacturer on behalf of people sickened by Salmonella
infections after eating peanut butter later recalled for contamination.
The story says that James Winston Daniels II of Bellingham missed several
days of work after he made sandwiches using Great Value peanut butter
purchased at a Wal-Mart store in Bellingham, according to the lawsuit.
Linda Lee Oswald, of Kent, missed three days of work after she made peanut
butter and jelly sandwiches using Peter Pan brand peanut butter.
Seattle attorney Bill Marler was cited as saying the lawsuit estimates
it may include over 3,000 potential class members. It excludes those who
have been hospitalized or who died, whose cases would be handled separately.
He has been contacted by family members of four people who died after
eating peanut butter, Marler added, but those cases have not been verified.
As of Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention counted
nearly 300 people in 39 states, including four in Washington, who have
been sickened since August. Not all cases have been linked to the implicated
peanut butter.
Marler was further cited as saying he expects the number to grow much
larger, adding, "From an epidemiological point of view, this has
been one of the oddest outbreaks I've seen in 14 years of doing these
cases." The story notes that. instead of happening all at one time,
in specific areas, this outbreak has occurred over months, and has been
spread out around the country.
Because people may buy peanut butter and keep it on the shelf for months,
people are coming forward who have been sickened for months at a time,
or have gone through cycles of being sick, then recovering, then re-infecting
themselves by eating the contaminated peanut butter again, Marler said.
Marler said he plans to test about 1,500 jars of peanut butter for contamination,
adding, "Part of what we do is make sure that claims that are brought
forward are legitimate and meritorious, because that helps the system
move forward to correct itself."
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On-Line Slides
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Safety - Questions
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Beware how
restaurants handle ice for your drink
21.feb.07
Sierra Vista Herald (AZ)
Dana Cole
http://www.svherald.com/articles/2007/02/20/local_news/news3.txt
SIERRA VISTA -- Walter Lacy, a former inspector, was cited as saying he
notices a number of things he believes are gross health violations that
could cause people to become sick, adding, "One of the big problems
is how food servers handle ice. My wife and I sit in fast food restaurants
and watch employees fill glasses with their hands and we see bartenders
using their hands as funnels when they¡¯re pouring ice in glasses. It¡¯s
disgusting.¡±
Lacy was cited as saying that managers need to insist that employees use
ice scoops, and that ice scoops must be stored outside of the ice bin
so that the handle, which is what the food servers touch to fill glasses,
doesn¡¯t come in contact with the ice, stating, "Anything we¡¯re going
to consume, if it¡¯s not handled properly, has the potential to make you
sick. People don¡¯t realize that ice is a big contaminant. It actually
preserves some germs."
Lacy, who goes to mall eateries, fast food places, restaurants and bars
just to watch how employees handle ice, says the health violations are
blatant. After contacting the county health department with some of his
observations, he says the director promised to check into the situation.
And there have been vast improvements.
Consumers
Wary of Food From Clones
(The Charleston Gazette)
By James Temple
When the farming industry embraced
artificial insemination during the 1940s, some critics argued that it
would lead to animal abnormalities or destroy breeding businesses. Others
proclaimed it tantamount to playing God.
Such objections have long since faded away, at least beyond the fringes,
and the technology now is used to produce about three- quarters of all
dairy cattle. To supporters of the Food and Drug Administration's preliminary
approval of food from most clones and their offspring, a December announcement
that sparked wide and vehement protests, the history of artificial insemination
(AI) is telling.
"The information age changes the way that people can fan the flames
of controversy," said James Murray, professor of animal science at
the University of California-Davis, who argues that extensive scientific
research has shown no danger from cloned animals. "This is just AI
with the Internet. It's a storm in a teapot."
Opponents of the FDA's decision, however, point to a more recent precedent:
the agency's approval of St. Louis-based Monsanto Co.'s synthetic bovine
growth hormone (BGH) in the early 1990s.
Consumer groups immediately called for boycotts, and many dairy processors
pledged to reject the drug. In the fourteen years since BGH's approval,
its use has never exceeded about one-third of U.S. cattle. Recently announced
plans to curtail or eliminate BGH by Dean Foods, Wal-Mart, Kroger, Safeway,
Starbucks and other major retailers and manufacturers promise to squeeze
that market share further.
"When Monsanto tried to get the entire dairy industry to embrace
growth hormones, we understood that people who bought our milk weren't
going to want it. The same lesson applies here," said Marcus Benedetti,
president of dairy processor Clover-Stornetta Farms in Petaluma, Calif.,
which has said it will not use cloned animals.
On Dec. 28, the FDA said in a draft risk assessment that meat and milk
from adult clones of cattle, swine and goats and their offspring are as
safe to consume as that from standard animals. Therefore, it concluded,
labeling shouldn't be required. (The agency said there is insufficient
information on sheep clones to make a determination on food consumption
risks.)
The FDA is seeking public comment on the subject until April and is expected
to issue a final determination soon after. An agency spokesman did not
respond to repeated inquiries for comment for this story.
The strongest evidence that the products of clones and their progeny will
face difficulty gaining acceptance - that the apt precedent is bovine
growth hormone - are surveys that consistently show that a majority of
consumers hold a negative impression of such food.
"There's no doubt that consumers' aversion to or dislike of cloned
products ... will translate to the marketplace," said Joseph Mendelson,
legal director for the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Food Safety.
"For a variety of reasons, they will reject it."
The most common objections include animal welfare or religious or food
safety concerns. A December 2006 poll by the Pew Initiative found that
64 percent of those polled were "uncomfortable" with animal
cloning. Thirty-six percent felt unsure about the safety of cloned food,
and 43 percent said it was unsafe.
"We are putting something out there, and we have no clue what the
impact of it is," said Susanne Scott, a Castro Valley adult school
instructor who falls squarely into the "unsafe" camp. "We're
risking future generations, and we have no idea on what scale."
None of the scientific research into the safety of food from clones has
found any evidence of danger. But some observers, scientists among them,
believe that more research is necessary to adequately answer that question.
Of course, the degree to which consumer preferences affect the adoption
of cloning technology will largely depend on how - and if - the products
are labeled.
There are several forms this could take.
National or state legislators could pass laws requiring labeling of food
products from cloned animals and their offspring. Indeed, last month California
state Sen. Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, and U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski,
D-Md., introduced state and federal legislation, respectively, to do just
that.
If such laws don't pass, individual companies opposed to cloning appear
willing to apply labels voluntarily, as happened after the FDA approved
BGH. Clover-Stornetta, which became the nation's first dairy processor
to stamp a BGH-related label on its products, is considering that possibility.
"At the end of the day, the only thing consumers ask for is choice,"
Benedetti said. 2-21-07
Not washing hands
after handling pets could bring serious illnesses, college finds
20.feb.07
Guelph Mercury
Deirdre Healey
Preliminary findings by the University of Guelph's Ontario Veterinary
College was cited as finding that pets can transmit a bacterial infection
resulting in large boils, bleeding pneumonia and in rare cases flesh-eating
disease or even death.
The infection is called community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus
aureus, or CA-MRSA. It was reported in January by the Canadian Medical
Association Journal that this drug-resistant bacterial superbug is becoming
more prevalent in communities across Canada.
While medical experts have pointed to sharing sports equipment and personal
items such as soap, towels, creams and razors as potential ways of transmitting
the infection, the veterinary college has found pets also play a role.
Dr. Scott Weese presented preliminary findings at yesterday's Waterloo
Wellington Infection Control Network workshop that showed incidents of
the infection being spread from pet to owner and from owner to pet.
Weese was quoted as saying, "If you think about the interaction between
dogs and kids, the kids aren't washing their hands after playing with
the dog and there can be a lot of licking and rubbing of the face when
playing with the dog."
CBS 11 News
investigates dirty Dallas dining
20.feb.07
CBS 11 News
Bennett Cunningham
DALLAS -- Rodent droppings and buzzing flies are typical in a garbage
dump, but they could also be in your neighborhood restaurant. After 2
years off, CBS 11 Consumer Reporter Bennett Cunningham is back and putting
restaurants kitchens under the microscope.
Mei-Mei¡¯s Chinese Buffet in Dallas [10455 N. Central Expressway] recently
failed a routine food inspection. They scored 67 out of 100.
The inspector found:
An employee wiping his nose and not washing his hands
Employees handling salad and fruit items with their bare hands
Crab meet at potentially hazardous temperatures
We went to Mei-Mei's for a visit. Right away we found these potential
code violations:
Bags of shrimp defrosting at room temperature and dripping on the floor
Raw spareribs in a container on the floor
Food boxes were on the freezer floor
No soap at the hand sink
We asked Ashan Kahn, the Dallas official in charge of the food inspection
program, if Mei Mei¡¯s Chinese Buffet would pass a city food inspection
on the day we visited. ¡°No, I don't think so,¡± he said.
We also went to Hardeman's Bar-B-Q in Dallas [2901 S. Lancaster Rd]. It
has been around for decades. It failed a recent routine food inspection
with a score of 61.
The inspector found:
Rodent droppings and flies
Sausage and ribs at potentially unsafe temperatures
On re-inspection, droppings were found near the bread warmer
George Hardeman Jr., of Hardeman's Bar-B-Q, said the city has made it
tougher to pass inspections. But the city hasn't changed their tolerance
on bugs in the restaurant.
"We don't live in Seattle where they don't have bugs," Hardeman
said. "I am sure you have rodent dropping in your house."
We also went to The Little Mexico in Dallas [8424 Park Lane]. It failed
with a score of 62.
The inspector found:
WD40 improperly stored under the kitchen sink Employees handling 'sopas'
with their bare hands Utensils stored in stagnant water On our visit,
we found these potential code violations:
Stuffed peppers sitting out at room temperature Refried beans that weren't
hot enough to serve WD40 was still under the kitchen sink All the restaurants
in this story passed a re-inspection and are open for business. These
Dallas restaurants scored exceptionally well (97 or above) on food inspections:
Porkie's BBQ - 100 [perfect score]
6530 E. NW highway
Backyard burgers - 97
10930 N. Central Expy
Taco Cabana - 97
4360 DFW Turnpike
USDA scientists
survey for Toxoplasma gondii
Source of Article: http://www.ift.org/news_bin/news/news_home.shtml
2/19/2007-A recently completed survey of meats for a common microscopic
parasite found none in raw beef and poultry and a low level in pork. The
study focused on the parasite Toxoplasma gondii, which commonly infects
animals and humans worldwide, and was conducted by scientists with the
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC).
The study was led by scientists Dolores E. Hill and Jitender P. Dubey
of USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and was published in The
Journal of Parasitology. Hill and Dubey are experts in parasitology research
at ARS' Henry A. Wallace Beltsville (Md.) Agricultural Research Center
(BARC).
The scientists analyzed samples of retail meat obtained from nearly 700
stores nationwide. More than 6,000 samples?2,000 each of pork, chicken
and beef?were purchased from stores in 28 major U.S. geographic areas.
Each sample weighed a minimum of 2.2 pounds, for a total of more than
14,000 pounds of meat tested.
None of the raw beef and chicken meat samples contained live T. gondii
parasites, based on a controlled analysis. In raw pork from retail meat
cases nationwide, the prevalence of live T. gondii parasites was estimated
at a low 0.4 percent, or about four per 1,000 samples.
"The survey shows that beef and chicken have negligible amounts of
the parasite, while pork has extremely low levels that are effectively
eliminated by proper cooking," said microbiologist Mark Jenkins,
with ARS' Animal Parasitic Disease Laboratory at BARC.
Besides the consumption of undercooked meat, another route of T. gondii
infection is exposure to egglike oocysts in the feces of infected cats.
A rodent- or bird-eating cat that has T. gondii in its body expels millions
of infectious-stage oocysts of the parasite during a week or two.
The parasite can seriously damage developing fetuses and persons with
weakened immune systems, such as those infected with HIV, according to
experts. Infants born to mothers who become infected for the first time
just before or during pregnancy are at risk of developing severe toxoplasmosis
due to T. gondii exposure.
For more, see the USDA Press Release: http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2007/070214.htm
California
wild pig population far larger than imagined
19.feb.07
Western Farm Press
http://westernfarmpress.com/news/021907-wild-pig/
Wild or feral pigs were implicated in at least one E. coli incident in
a vegetable field in the Salinas Valley. Some have called wild pigs a
minor contributor to the E. coli threat, pointing to domestic animals
as larger sources for E. coli in California¡¯s food crop.
However, domestic animals are far easier to see and photograph by the
media than wild hogs. A University of North Dakota wildlife ecologist
working in California was cited as asying the wild pig problem is far
greater than what the eye and camera captured and it is growing, posing
a threat not only to crops, but to California¡¯s natural habitat.
Using computer-aided mapping and records of hunting tags, Rick Sweitzer,
a wildlife ecologist at the University of North Dakota supported by the
University of California Exotic/Invasive Pests and Diseases Research Program
has calculated how far wild pigs have expanded their range in California
to encourage using alternative methods to control their spread.''
State health
officials urge Coloradans to check their refrigerators and freezers for
Oscar Mayer/Louis Rich chicken breast strips
20.feb.07
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
DENVER -- The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment today
urged individuals who may have purchased ¡°Oscar Mayer/Louis Rich Chicken
Breast Strips with Rib Meat, Grilled, Fully Cooked ? Ready To Eat¡± at
retail locations in Colorado to check their packages for specific code
information as these chicken strips may be contaminated by Listeria monocytogenes.
Individuals who have the recalled product should not eat it and discard
it.
The chicken breast strips affected by the recall come in six-ounce packages,
and on the back of each package appears a ¡°use by¡± date of ¡°19 Apr 2007.¡±
The code ¡°19 APR 2007¡± appears on each case. Also, the front of each package
bears the establishment number ¡°P-19676¡± inside the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) mark of inspection.
The product was manufactured by Carolina Culinary Foods, a West Columbia,
S.C. firm, and distributed to retail establishments nationwide.
Food safety specialists with the Department of Public Health and Environment¡¯s
Consumer Protection Division have learned that the recalled product was
likely provided to major grocery store chains in Colorado.
Swimming
'To The Left' Gets Bacteria Upstream, And May Promote Infection
February 21, 2007
Source of Article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/02/070221104634.htm
Science Daily ? Yale engineers who study both flow hydrodynamics and how
bacteria propel themselves report that one reason for the high incidence
of infections associated with catheters in hospital patients may be that
some pathogenic bacteria swim ¡°to the left,¡± in a study published in Physical
Review Letters.
¡°Escherichia coli (E. coli) and some other pathogenic bacteria with flagella
interact with the flow of liquid when they are near a surface,¡± said Hur
Koser, assistant professor of electrical engineering at Yale and the study¡¯s
senior author, who has collaborated with a diverse team of scientists
for this study.
¡°Each cell normally has two to six flagella that can rotate together as
a bundle and act as a propeller to drive the cell forward. Away from any
boundaries, the cells swim in a straight line, but near a surface, opposing
forces of flow and bacterial forward motion cause the bacteria to continuously
swim to one side ? to the left.¡± The study determined that swimming ¡°to
the left¡± is a hydrodynamic process that is fundamentally related to the
way the cells propel themselves in this manner.
Koser and his colleagues show that this phenomenon allows flagellated
bacteria, such as E. coli, to find crevices or imperfections on the surface,
get trapped, and swim upstream. This allows the bacteria to eventually
locate large reservoirs with richer sources of food and better conditions
for multiplying.
¡°We think that upstream swimming of bacteria may be relevant to the transport
of E. coli in the urinary tract,¡± said Koser. ¡°It might also explain the
high rates of infection in catheterized patients and the incidence of
microbial contamination at protected wellheads. To our knowledge, this
is the first time that a natural propensity to swim upstream has been
discovered and described in bacteria.¡±
To study the hydrodynamics of these bacteria in a flow environment, Koser¡¯s
team constructed microfluidic devices using soft lithography. Inside the
devices they set up various flow patterns to observe the bacteria in channels
that were only 150 or 300 microns wide and between 50 and 450 microns
deep. They were able to observe how the bacteria moved at a wide range
of flow rates ? between 0.05 and 20 microliters per minute.
Co-authors on the paper are Jane Hill in Yale¡¯s Environmental Engineering
Program, Jonathan L. McMurry, then in Yale¡¯s Molecular Biophysics and
Biochemistry Department and Ozge Kalkanci at Bogazici University, Istanbul,
Turkey. The research was mainly supported through funds from Yale University.
Citation: Physical Review Letters: early online February 6, 2007 DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.068101
Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by Yale University.
USDA responds
to concerns about Canadian cattle imports
By Tom Johnston on 2/20/2007 for Meatingplace.com
Responding to a media report that documents obtained by Washington cattlemen
show hundreds of cattle from Canada are entering the United States without
government-required health papers or identification tags, USDA officials
indicated that no significant violations have occurred.
Andrea McNally of Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's legislative
and public Affairs division told Meatingplace.com that her agency is "reviewing
the concerns that have been brought to our attention in Washington state."
(See Group says Canadian cattle improperly imported into United States
on Meatingplace.com, Feb. 19, 2007.)
"As we are reviewing these records, we have discovered that a large
portion are minor record-keeping problems that are not material to the
entry requirements of the cattle," she said. "Nonetheless, we
are looking closely to make sure the balance of the paperwork shows proper
documentation, and we will respond according to our findings."
Canada's reaction
Meanwhile, the Canadian Cattlemen's Association is questioning both the
Chicago Tribune article and the motives of the Cattle Producers of Washington.
John Masswohl, director of government and international relations for
CCA, told Meatingplace.com that a different set of rules apply to those
Canadian cattle imports used for immediate slaughter and those going to
feedlots.
Masswohl explained that the USDA only requires that Canadian slaughter
cattle go from the border to the slaugherhouse in a sealed truck. That
these cattle have identification papers when they arrive is the result
of Canada's own export requirements, he said.
Meanwhile, USDA stipulates that Canadian feeder cattle must be less than
30 months old, can only be fed in one feedlot and must be slaughtered
before reaching 30 months of age, must be branded with a symbol signifying
they are from Canada, and must have an ear tag. However, the ear tag,
a point not made in the newspaper article, can either be an electronic
device or simply have a bar code, he said.
Considering Canada exported just less than 1 million cattle to the United
States last year, Masswohl added, some slip-ups probably do occur. However,
they often have simple remedies, such as simply replacing an animal's
ear tag after it has fallen off during transport in a truck. "Ultimately,
this requirement is not for food safety, is not for animal health, and
does not prevent the spread of [bovine spongiform encephalopathy],"
he said. "We just need to know that when we need to track down an
animal we've got the trail to do it."
Opposition's propaganda?
Also of note, Masswohl said, is the Cattle Producers of Washington's affiliation
with Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, a group that "not only
wants to prevent the border from opening further, but also to fully close
the border to any cattle from Canada, any cattle from Mexico, or cattle
from any other country. Forgive me if I take the story with a little grain
of salt."
The Cattle Producers of Washington did not immediately respond to requests
for comment.