Web posted
Thursday, September 4, 2008
National cattlemen 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.
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