on 2/26/04 for
Meatingplace.com
Creekstone Farms is planning to test every animal it processes at the
company's Arkansas City, Kan., plant for bovine spongiform
encephalopathy, a plan that the company said will reopen Asian markets
exclusively to their Black Angus beef products.
However, the proposal is reportedly generating a firestorm of
controversy at the Agriculture Department and has not been warmly
embraced by some industry associations.
Creekstone COO Bill Fielding says the company is reviewing testing
protocols with a privately owned laboratory, which Fielding declined to
identify, and said he has received assurances from Asian trade officials
and customers that Japan and South Korea would accept Creekstone's
product if the company's testing protocols meet those countries'
requirements.
But USDA officials fear the impact on the entire market of any false
positive tests that the agency says could occur, and said Creekstone
would not "have the legal right to market" product as originating from
cattle that have been privately tested.
Fielding, a 26-year-veteran of the meat industry, said Creekstone
believes USDA might lack the authority to prevent the company from the
testing. Creekstone officials said they have already won support from at
least one congressman and several senators, and that the company is
prepared to fight any attempt to prevent it from implementing testing of
all the animals it harvests.
"We have asked USDA to give us one -- just one -- really good reason why
they oppose this, and all we've heard from them is that they're
reviewing this," said Fielding, who previously served as president of
Farmland Industries' refrigerated foods group, as chairman and director
of the American Meat Institute and as president of ConAgra Foods'
refrigerated meat group.
USDA: "We're looking at it"
"They have not done so. What we keep hearing is, 'we're looking at it.'
Well that pretty well sums up the problem at USDA. They're looking
instead of doing."
Creekstone Farms purchased its state-of-the-art beef processing plant
during bankruptcy proceedings for Future Beef Operations in January
2003. Fielding says the testing will add about $20 to the cost of
processing each animal, and the cost for the testing will be passed
along to customers. Creekstone kills about 1,000 cattle each day, and
Fielding said about 15 percent of the company's business last year came
from exports.
Creekstone Farms President John Stewart first broached the idea to
implement total testing at USDA's annual outlook forum last week. He
said he's asked USDA for speedy approval of the BSE testing method that
would be used at Creekstone Farms' beef plant.
While Japan's government, various activist groups and even some
politicians have said they favor testing all animals, USDA officials
have said the step is not needed because the disease is found in older
animals.
A criminal act?
If Creekstone goes forward, there would likely be legal battle,
including criminal charges. Lisa Ferguson, a senior staff veterinarian
at USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, said Creekstone
would be violating the Virus Serum Toxin Act, passed in 1913, which
mandates APHIS as the agency tasked with reviewing and licensing animal
diagnostic test kits. A review of the act shows it does not specifically
mention diagnostic tests, but specifically prohibits the production,
marketing and use of any virus, serum, toxin or analogous product for
use in the treatment of domestic animals.
Someone convicted of violating the act can be convicted of a misdemeanor
criminal offense and fined not more than $1,000 and/or jailed for up to
one year.
"We are accepting applications and are reviewing the data for some rapid
tests," Ferguson said. "But that can be a long and extensive process.
The review process would also determine under what circumstances the
test might be used. But none of that has been determined."
Not waiting around
Fielding said Creekstone does not agree with USDA's position, and that
they intend to test every animal as soon as they are able to reach an
agreement with the lab that will conduct the tests.
"We are looking at this as we would a customer request," Fielding said.
"We will likely use the exact same test that are being used in Japan and
South Korea. We absolutely want to work with USDA. We also want to test
every animal."
U.S. beef exports, valued last year at $3.8 billion, have plunged since
Dec. 23 when the government disclosed that a single case of BSE had been
found in Washington state.
More than 40 countries, including Japan, Mexico and South Korea -- the
three largest buyers of U.S. beef -- have banned imports of the meat.
The U.S. will import a record 3.3 billion pounds of beef in 2004, the
USDA predicted, up 10 percent from 2003 and up 3 percent over 2002.
http://www.meatingplace.com/DailyNews/init.asp?clickthrough=true&ID=11912
TSS
