Do USDA Officials Have Advanced Spongiform Encephalopathy?

I probably already have Mad Cow Disease. So do you and other cow eating humans in the US and the UK. We’re probably all doomed. Otherwise, why would the USDA be so keen on keeping meatpackers from privately testing their cows for Mad Cow?

Seriously, I have been wondering how the USDA claims to keep meatpackers from testing their cows. They claim the exclusive authority to license diagnostic kits under a 1913 statute regulating viruses, toxins and serums used to treat domestic livestock. Diagnostic kits are not mentioned in the statute, but USDA holds the threat of criminal sanctions over the heads of would be testers.

I hope this company goes ahead with its plans to test and defies USDA. It’s about time that Americans knew how little testing USDA actually does and that its main concern is protecting Big Beef instead of American cow eaters. Let the federal government explain in court why letting meatpackers test at their own expense is a bad thing. I would pay extra for beef that was less likely to cause my brain to turn into Swiss cheese.

Meanwhile, I might just give up beef for a while.