Statement by USMEF President & CEO Philip Seng
On November 23, 2004, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the “inconclusive” test for Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE, also known as mad cow disease) reported on November 18, 2004 has been confirmed by the National Veterinary Services Laboratory (NVSL) to be negative and the animal does not have BSE.
USMEF President & CEO Philip Seng immediately issued the following statement:
“The USDA announcement today that the animal producing an ‘inconclusive’ preliminary test for BSE on November 18 was not infected with the disease is a clear indication the firewalls put in place to ensure the safest beef supply possible are working.
“The aggressive U.S. surveillance program was implemented in June and this finding is the result of a two-part test process. To test a significant number of targeted animals, the government's first step uses a rapid screening test, which can produce inconclusive results as it did with this animal. The second step, confirmatory testing, was conducted by the USDA National Veterinary Services Laboratory (NVSL) in Ames, Iowa. NVSL uses immunohistochemistry, recognized as the “gold standard” test, to determine the presence of BSE. At this point, more than 120,000 samples have been collected through this program and, with today’s announcement, no positives have been confirmed. This exercise illustrates the U.S. beef industry’s commitment to stringent adherence to federal testing mandates and USDA transparency in reporting. It is important to note the USDA took the appropriate steps and precautions to ensure no potentially contaminated beef entered food or feed supplies.
“The production of the safest beef in the world and the prevention of BSE in the U.S. beef herd continue to be our top priorities and safeguarding public health is our No. 1 concern. Thus, in addition to its surveillance program, the United States also removes from the human food supply products most likely to contain potential BSE infected tissues, so-called ‘specific risk materials,’ further safeguarding U.S. beef supplies. There is more than ample reason to maintain confidence in the U.S. beef production system, and USMEF and USDA will do everything in their power to communicate this confidence to our trading partners worldwide.”
The U.S. Meat Export Federation is the trade association responsible for developing international markets for the U.S. red meat industry and is funded by USDA, exporting companies, and the beef, pork, corn, sorghum and soybean checkoff programs.
Click here to view the official USDA statement.
– USMEF –