Creekstone answers USDA on mad cow testing

Food & Drink Weekly, Nov 13, 2006

Creekstone Farms has answered USDA's court documents opposing the company's motion for summary judgment in its lawsuit against USDA. Creekstone sued USDA in March for refusing to allow the company to voluntarily test all the cattle it slaughters for mad cow disease. USDA officials have told the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that Creekstone's case is now largely moot because Japan and Korea have re-opened their borders to U.S. imports. Several countries had banned imports of U.S. beef because of concerns over mad cow. USDA maintains that it has the right to regulate private testing for BSE on the basis of a 100-year-old law intended to stop the sale of bogus hog cholera serums to Midwest farmers.

In its filing, Creekstone maintains that the USDA is using the law in a way it was never intended, not to protect ranchers from suppliers of bogus serums but to regulate competition among beef processors. Creekstone's filing also maintains that the company is seeking to test 100 percent of its beef for mad cow disease to enhance its brand reputation and to make it possible to sell beef for higher prices in both domestic and foreign markets. Testing all the cattle processed at the Arkansas City plant would cost Creekstone about $6 million annually, but officials have contended that regaining lost markets would more than pay for the additional cost. Before the Japanese ban, sales to Japan accounted for about 30 percent of Creekstone's production