and of course it didn't enter the food chain..it never does

[Guest guest]

U.S. agency finds more than 1,000 violations of mad-cow rules

10:42 PM EDT Aug 15

LIBQUAID

 

 

 

WASHINGTON (AP) - Inspectors have found more than 1,000 violations

of rules aimed at preventing mad cow disease from reaching humans,

the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Monday.

 

No contaminated meat reached consumers, the agency said. The rules

were created in response to the country's first case of mad cow

disease in December 2003.

 

They require that brains, spinal cords and other nerve parts - which

can carry mad cow disease - be removed when older cows are

slaughtered. The at-risk tissues are removed from cows older than 30

months because infection levels are believed to rise with age.

 

The USDA said Monday it had cited beef slaughterhouses or processing

plants 1,036 times for failing to comply with rules on removing

those tissues, which are commonly called specified risk materials or

SRMs. The violations occurred over 17 months, ending in May.

 

The number of violations amounts to less than one per cent of all

citations at those plants, said USDA spokeswoman Lisa Wallenda

Picard.

 

" At no point in time did SRMs get to consumers, " Picard said. " There

was not one example of that. "

 

The department released the information in response to requests made

by several groups under the federal Freedom of Information Act. The

records were from January 2004, when the rules went into effect,

through May of this year.

 

One of the groups, Public Citizen, said the records showed serious

problems in enforcing the rules. For example, there were mistakes in

identifying animals' ages, which affected whether at-risk tissues

were removed.

 

" Time and time again, they've said we have an SRM ban that is the

ultimate public health measure they can take, " said Patty Lovera,

deputy director of Public Citizen's food program. " There are

problems at a couple of levels in that whole policy that they keep

bragging about. "

 

Removal of nerve tissues is important but doesn't guarantee the

safety of the food supply, said Jean Halloran, director of food

policy initiatives at Consumers Union.

 

 

 

 

 

 

a blinding flash

hotter than the sun

dead bodies lie across the path

the radiation colors the air

finishing one by one