Government Fights To STOP Meat Inspections!

-- by Dave Johnson

Small meat companies want to test their meat to insure that it is safe. Larger companies want this stopped - because if smaller companies are doing it, they will be more competitive and they will have to spend money to do tests to keep up. So the Bush government steps in on the side of the big companies TO STOP THE TESTING!

See E. coli conservatism (19): the ne plus ultra,

The Bush administration said Tuesday it will fight to keep meatpackers from testing all their animals for mad cow disease.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture tests less than 1 percent of slaughtered cows for the disease, which can be fatal to humans who eat tainted beef. But Arkansas City-based Creekstone Farms Premium Beef wants to test all of its cows.

Larger meat companies feared that move because, if Creekstone tested its meat and advertised it as safe, they might have to perform the expensive test, too.

The Agriculture Department argued that widespread testing could lead to a false positive that would harm the meat industry.

Posted by Dave Johnson at May 30, 2007 11:19 AM