CR's Take
		• Consumers who want to eat beef can limit their risk for mad cow disease by avoiding the foods most likely to carry it: brains and processed beef products that may contain nervous-system tissue, such as hamburger, hotdogs, and sausage. Organic, biodynamic, or 100 percent grass-fed beef carries the least risk, since the cattle are not fed any animal remains. Steak and hamburger ground while you watch are also lower risk. • The USDA should test all cattle over 20 months old and require testing for any animals shipped to the U.S. from countries with mad cow disease. Until these safeguards are in place, the USDA should not weaken import regulations on Canadian cattle.

From salmonella in peanut butter to E. coli in spinach, a rash of food contamination scares over the past several months has left consumers reeling. But even as concerns about food safety mount, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is poised to adopt a controversial new proposal that would weaken restrictions on cattle and cattle parts imported from Canada--a country facing a significant problem with mad cow disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy).

The proposal, which has drawn protest from consumer advocates and cattle ranchers, would allow Canadian cows born on or after March 1, 1999, to be shipped across the border. Since older animals are more likely to exhibit symptoms of the fatal brain disease, only cows 2.5 years or younger are currently allowed into the U.S . The USDA is also proposing to allow imports of cattle blood and intestines from Canada to be used as animal feed, though these parts may harbor infectious material.

In February 2007 Canadian officials announced that they had detected the country's ninth case of mad cow since May 2003. Five of the cases were identified in 2006, through a program that tested just 1 percent of all Canadian cows slaughtered. And while the USDA claims that Canadian safeguards meant to stop the spread of the disease became effective in March 1999, three of the five cows found to be infected with the disease last year were born after then. Early reports suggest the latest positive case was born after that date as well.

Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns has said he would dispatch a USDA expert to Canada to investigate the latest incident of mad cow but that he did not expect it to affect U.S. trade with Canada.

The USDA will be accepting public comments on the proposal until March 12. To add your voice to those urging the agency not to reopen the Canadian border to older cows, visit the Consumers Union site Notinmyfood.org and sign the online petition. Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports magazine, will formally submit it, along with detailed comments from its food safety experts, into the official docket.


A flawed system

Consumer Reports investigations have long raised concerns that the federal government isn't doing enough to protect the animal feed supply and that as a result the food we eat may not be as safe as it could be. For example, the U.S. tested some 370,000 cows between June 1, 2004, and May 31, 2005, out of a total herd of about 97 million, of which 37 million were slaughtered. By contrast, in Europe every single animal above a given age gets tested. Our food safety experts believe that, among other steps, the USDA should test all cattle over 20 months old and require testing for any animals shipped to the U.S. from countries with mad cow disease.

To learn more about mad cow disease, see the Consumers Union position.