Audit says USDA lost track of imported cattle, Canada has reported 13 cases of mad cow

[DogPoundPup]

Note: While Bush mistakes innocent civilians for terrorists both foreign and native, his cronies can't even track foreign cattle entering America.

By Stephen J. Hedges | Washington Bureau
2:07 AM CDT, July 23, 2008

WASHINGTON - Despite persistent fears of mad cow disease in Canadian beef, the Department of Agriculture has failed to properly track hundreds of Canadian cattle coming into the United States, the department's inspector general has concluded.

An audit, completed in March but only recently made public, said that some of the imported cattle did not have proper identification or health records despite federal regulations requiring them.

The audit did not say how many cattle were improperly brought into the U.S. and inspector general spokesman Paul Feeney said auditors are not sure of that number. The report said that a lack of records meant that "it cannot be determined" whether shipments other than those discovered "have bypassed inspection or whether this is a systemic problem."

About 1 million cattle were imported into the U.S. from Canada in the fiscal year ending in September 2006, the period covered by the audit.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/health/chi-madcow23jul23,0,6081378.story

[kestrel91316]

1. Boy, it's a real good thing we don't routinely test all cattle in the US for BSE.

Otherwise we might not have such a stellar record in keeping it out of the food supply......

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. Aw, crap. My older son lives on hot dogs. I tried to get him to stop eating them but hubby

as always makes fun of me for worrying too much, we're all gonna die someday, etc etc.