Creekstone Farms to work with USDA for voluntary BSE testing
Following a legal fight brought by US processor of Black Angus beef Creekstone Farms Premium Beef, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) must now allow private testing for BSE.
According to a ruling from US District Judge James Robertson, the USDA’s "prohibition of the private use of rapid test kits to screen cattle for bovine spongiform encephalopathy is unlawful". Creekstone’s president and CEO Dennis Buhlke said he was very pleased with the ruling and that the company is ready to work with the USDA.
The effective date of the ruling has been set for June 1 in order to allow the USDA time to decide whether to appeal or not. Creekstone has already built a new laboratory and is now in a position to implement its plans for BSE testing of some or all of the cattle it processes at its plant in
The ruling stated that the USDA has the authority to regulate the use of diagnostic tests in general, but that it lacks the authority to prohibit the private use of BSE test kits, which are not used in the treatment of BSE, but are used on cattle that are already dead to see if they had any significant levels of BSE infection. Noting that many other countries test large numbers of seemingly healthy cattle for BSE at slaughter, Judge Robertson suggested that the USDA’s concerns about the conclusions consumers might draw from private BSE testing were not within its statutory areas of responsibility.
