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The Traveler (Arkansas
City, Kan.) – Thursday – September 4, 2008
(quotes R-CALF
USA CEO Bill Bullard, Communications Coordinator Shae Dodson)
National cattlemen (R-CALF
USA) support Creekstone
Billings, Mont. - A national cattle
producers group has issued a statement supporting Creekstone Farms Premium Beef
in its legal battle with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which for years has
blocked the meatpacker from testing its own cattle for mad cow disease.
R-CALF USA said in a press release Tuesday it was disappointed to learn that a
federal appeals court - in a split decision - last week sided with the USDA in
its efforts to ban Arkansas City-based Creekstone Farms from testing for mad
cow, formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, BSE.
USDA argued that it must control the BSE-testing kits, even though Creekstone
had previously spent a great deal of money to build a USDA-compliant testing lab
at its Arkansas City facility.
As far back as 2004, major U.S. beef export customers - such as Japan and South
Korea - indicated they would prefer to purchase beef from cattle that had been
tested for the fatal disease, said Shae Dodson, spokesman for R-CALF.
A coalition that represented all segments of the U.S. cattle and beef industries
- R-CALF USA, Creekstone, Gateway, Costco Wholesale Corp., and the Smith &
Wollensky Restaurant Group - formally requested that former Agriculture
Secretary Ann Veneman allow Creekstone to test for BSE in order to meet the
demands of its customers.
"R-CALF USA still maintains that USDA's outright refusal to allow private
businesses to voluntarily test cattle for BSE to meet the purchase requirements
of their customers has harmed cattle producers, packers, wholesalers and retail
businesses that sell beef, particularly those businesses that export beef to
Asia," said R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard.
"For an unnecessarily long
period of time following the December 2003 discovery of a BSE-infected cow
imported from Canada, USDA failed to reopen most export markets for U.S. beef.
Rather than oppose Creekstone, USDA should have worked with beef processors to
help them establish standards for voluntary BSE testing that would respond to
the demands of their customers."
It is R-CALF USA's position that USDA has prevented beef processors like
Creekstone from meeting market-driven product standards - standards which
Creekstone was willing to impose voluntarily and which would have allowed the
U.S. to more quickly restore our Asian export markets.
"The consequences of USDA - and now the courts - denying voluntary BSE testing
effectively shield the less innovative, less nimble and less responsive beef
processors from the competitive capacity of cutting-edge beef processors like
Creekstone," Bullard said.
"Unfortunately, the courts have allowed USDA to continue to abuse its regulatory
authority by hamstringing market competition, particularly in this instance,
where Creekstone intended to use BSE testing procedures identical to those used
by USDA."
R-CALF USA stands for Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United
Stockgrowers of America. It is a national, non-profit organization dedicated to
ensuring the continued profitability and viability of the U.S. cattle industry,
according to the press release.
http://www.arkcity.net/stories/090408/com_0003.shtml
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