RoguePundit

Importing More Canadian Food Risk

Ridley Canada, one of the largest feed manufacturer in North America, is being sued over its possible role in spreading mad cow disease in Canada (previous blog here).  Within an article that provides the latest on that subject was the following nugget.

The lawsuit now proceeds - even as a new round of criticisms is being levelled at Ottawa over the Conservative government's latest policy shift on mad cow prevention and detection.

A scientist at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency was fired this month after stumbling upon a classified policy document that shows the government decided last year to cut back on inspections of meat, meat products, animal feed and commercial seeds, among other food items.

The cost-cutting plan, which came from the office of Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and was approved by Treasury Board last November, has not yet been made public.

But leaked copies indicate the Harper government is holding off on a public announcement of the plan "owing to significant communications risks."

November also happens to be when the U.S. reopened its borders to older Canadian beef (which is at greater risk of mad cow disease) by rescinding the 30-month rule (previous blog here).  Since then, Canada has had three more cases of the disease, two of which were in cattle born after the feed ban...which as we know has been violated at least once. 

FYI, one often reads that the most recent case of mad cow was the 13th discovered in Canada or the 13th there since 2003.  A better number might be 15...Canada's first case (in 1993) was a cow born in the UK, and the first case in the U.S. (Dec 2003) was a cow born in Canada.   

The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, the union representing the fired scientist, says the new inspection policy "will amplify risk management and the risk will be to the health of Canadians."

Liberal MPs issued a news release this week demanding the Conservatives release the full policy document at once.

"Even with the little we know about it, it is clear that this plan will hurt farmers and threatens the food we all eat," said Liberal agriculture critic Wayne Easter.

And since we're importing so much food from Canada...

A New Prion Disease

There are multiple types of the fatal degenerative brain disorder knows as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD--previous blog here).  The one that's gained the most publicity is the "variant" form that's linked to mad cow disease.  However, the most common type is sporadic CJD, which seems to randomly develop in about one in a million people.  There's also genetic CJD which runs in families and iatrogenic CJD which is accidentally transmitted via medical procedures. 

However, there have been a few instances where patients were seemingly suffering from CJD, but testing proved negative.  

A new form of fatal dementia has been discovered in 16 Americans, 10 of whom have already died of the condition. It resembles Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease - with patients gradually losing their ability to think, speak and move - but has features that make it distinct from known forms of CJD.

No one yet knows how the disease originates, or under what conditions it might spread. Nor is it clear how many people have the condition. "I believe the disease has been around for many years, unnoticed," says Pierluigi Gambetti, director of the US National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Cases may previously have been mistaken for other forms of dementia.

...

As in other spongiform encephalopathies, such as CJD and mad cow disease (BSE), the brain tissue of victims is full of tiny holes. This damage is thought to be caused by the accumulation of prions, misfolded versions of a brain protein called PrP that can convert normal PrP molecules into their own misshapen form.

Until recent years, the only way of identifying CJD was an autopsy that opened up the skull.  Thus, one would definitely figure that the disease has been underdiagnosed historically.  Prion proteins weren't discovered until the early 1980s...they're still not that well understood.

Some features of the new disease are different, however. All known disease-causing prions resist degradation by proteases--enzymes which digest the normal form of PrP. But prions from patients with the new disease are broken down by the enzymes.

Some very rare forms of CJD run in families and are caused by mutations in the gene for PrP. Six of the cases described in Gambetti's paper were from families with a history of dementia, suggesting a genetic cause. However, these people had no mutations in their PrP genes. "Maybe there are other genes that have an influence on the disease," suggests James Ironside of the UK's National CJD Surveillance Unit in Edinburgh.

This new disease is being called PSPr, short for protease-sensitive prionopathy.  Doctors in the UK are now reviewing previous cases of sporadic CJD to see if any of them might have been PSPr. 

Another Type of Beef Contamination

New Zealand is one of the nations that benefited from improved market opportunities when the U.S. suddenly had problems with mad cow disease.  However, it's also had occasional struggles with its quality control.  This is the second time that beef from New Zealand has been found to be contaminated as follows.

Meat tainted with the insecticide endosulfan has prompted an urgent investigation by the Food Safety Authority after a complaint from its South Korean counterpart.

...

Endosulfan, or Thiodan, is an organochlorine insecticide introduced in the 1950s and is usually found as a residue on fruit and vegetables.

Though banned or severely restricted in many countries, it remains on the permitted list in New Zealand. It is poisonous in high concentrations and critics say it is a neurotoxin and endrocrine disrupter at trace levels, responsible for breast cancer, birth deformities, infertility and immune-system problems.

It may have been misused and applied to animals to kill ticks or other insects. It can also enter the food chain through feed.

Endosulfan is a Restricted Use Pesticide in the U.S., meaning that it can only be applied by professionals.  It's used on a number of crops and as a wood preservative, protecting against decay and borers. The initial problem in New Zealand was related to it being used to control ticks.

The reputation of New Zealand beef suffered in 2005 when the misuse of endosulfan on cattle on a single farm led to a recall in the South Korean and Taiwanese markets, costing millions.

New Zealand beef exports are worth about $1.8 billion, according to Statistics New Zealand.

Last year, South Korea was the second-largest market after the United States, at $256 million. Japan and Taiwan are the third- and fourth-biggest markets for Kiwi beef.

A market of that size was jeopardized by a farmer who sprayed ten cattle.  Beef was recalled from South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, the U.S., Belgium, and parts of New Zealand itself.  Beef exporters lost $70 million in contracts with the South Korean military alone.  The rancher was eventually fined $15,000 NZD (about $11,400 U.S.) plus court costs. 

Meanwhile, unlike the U.S. with its mad cow problems, New Zealand has more than recovered its market share in South Korea.  That's due in large part to the rapid reponse and strong cooperation New Zealand showed in reacting to the previous discovery of endosulfan contamination.  They fought for their market share rather than trying to force it down South Korea's throat.   

"They discovered it and we are now investigating it," Agriculture Minister Jim Anderton said. "They have some confidence in our system because we act quickly.

"It is not in quantities that are health-threatening for human consumption. Nevertheless, it's a concern and the Food Safety Authority is investigating it."

He declined to say whether South Korean authorities had threatened a ban or a recall but confirmed the contamination had been traced to a Waikato farm.

The contamination has been traced to farm in a different district on the North Island.

With all the bad blood in South Korea over the recent beef deal with the U.S (most recent blog here), I wonder if this will help us recover a bit of our former market share.

Not Digested (Updated)

Prions, the misfolded proteins which cause mad cow disease, scrapie, and chronic wasting disease, are difficult to destroy, in part because they're not alive (previous blog here).  Our bodies don't break them down, and neither does ultraviolet light.  Cooking only works at temperatures that also destroy the food.  They're even resistant to radiation and a number of disinfectants.  And now we can add sewage treatment to the list.   

Scientists have long wondered whether prions entering sewers from slaughterhouses and meatpacking facilities could survive the processes used in conventional sewage treatment plants, and unfortunately it now appears that they can, although they are still unlikely to turn up in treated tapwater.

...

The treatment process first used aerobic bacteria to digest the contaminated sewage for seven hours, breaking down organic material. The treated wastewater was then separated from sewage sludge, which settled at the bottom of the treatment tank. The sludge was collected and further digested by anaerobic bacteria at 37 °C for 10 days. They then tested the wastewater and sludge generated by the treatment process.

Although the wastewater generated from the experiment was clear of prion protein presence, the biosolids were not. The team’s analysis revealed that the sewage treatment process had done almost nothing to reduce the concentration of prions that they had added in the beginning. ...

Because biosolids are often used as crop fertilizer, this raises the prospect of small amounts of prions being present on the surfaces of the crop plants - and without careful washing, they could therefore be ingested when the food is consumed.

Activated sludge, the type of sewage treatment used first, is one of the more advanced and effective processes available.  Following that with an anaerobic process is unusual, but a good test of the ability of a rather different set of organisms to break down the prions.  No luck.

At this stage, it may be useful to perform a full quantitative risk assessment of the environmental spread of prion diseases to identify the most important risk factors. With respect to wastewater, it might help to assess whether there was a significant risk of wastewater being contaminated in the first place, explains biochemist Robert Somerville at the University of Edinburgh, in the UK. “The question that intrigues me most is what molecular properties are responsible for making prions so resistant to inactivation in the first place,” comments Somerville.

“The good news appears to be that [prion] infectivity is relatively securely locked up in the sludge...rather than the water. The bad news is that it may take years or even decades to be rid of [the] contaminations,” Rohwer says.

This probably also answers the question regarding whether the mulching of roadkill will kill the prions in deer infected with chronic wasting disease (previous blog here). 

Hmmm.

Update:  By the way, Canada has had another case of mad cow.

Today (June 27), the Canadian Food Inspection Service (CFIA) announced the detection of yet another case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in Canadian cattle. CFIA reported that the infected animal was a 5-year-old Holstein cow from British Columbia, Canada, which would mean she was born in 2003.

... This latest case--the 14^th case detected in a Canadian-born cow and the 15^th case when Canada’s 1993 imported case is included--also is the eighth case in an animal born after Canada implemented its 1997 ruminant-to-ruminant feed ban, and its seventh case in an animal born after the date of March 1, 1999, that USDA has set for eligibility for Canadian cattle to be exported to the United States. 

...

Because this particular cow was born after March 1, 1999, USDA’s new OTM (over-30-month) Rule--put into effect by the agency on Nov. 19, 2007--would have allowed this cow to be imported into the U.S. long before she began to exhibit clinical signs of BSE.

Not good.

Protecting South Korean Consumers

After all that brave talk in the face of massive South Korean protests (previous blog here) that we weren't going to renegotiate the recently signed beef deal...

At Seoul's request, the United States revised the April deal last week, restricting American beef exports to cattle younger than 30 months. Younger cattle are believed to be at less risk of mad cow disease.

The age restriction was a major sticking point until South Korean leadership compromised (buckled) to boost its chances of gaining a free trade agreement.  But with economic populism clearly on the upswing here (and for that matter there), the odds aren't good that Congress will approve an FTA with anyone anytime soon. 

The government removed on Thursday the last legal barrier blocking American beef imports from reaching South Korean store shelves, following weeks of demonstrations set off by fears that the meat might not be safe from mad cow disease.

South Korea on Thursday published the quarantine and inspection guidelines based on a beef import deal that was struck with the United States in April but was revised last week to allay concerns about mad cow disease among South Koreans, announced the Ministry of Public Administration and Security.

With the publication of the legal notice, South Korean importers can ask the government to inspect American beef imports and the government must immediately release the meat that passes the inspections. Some 5,300 tons of American beef, shipped earlier to South Korea but held in customs and quarantine storage facilities, can go under inspection as early as this week, said officials at the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

The legal notice also gives the green light to South Korean importers to place orders in the United States.

South Korea has more stringent beef inspection standards than we do (previous blog here).  But, it's not likely that the importers will order much beef.  There are threats of a boycott, transportation blockades, etc.  

Lee has apologized for the April deal and replaced his top advisers. He was also expected to replace some of his cabinet ministers. But with the numbers of demonstrators decreasing, Lee urged the nation to move on from the protests that have paralyzed his four-month-old government for weeks and to let it focus on reviving the slowing economy.

"Honoring an international agreement is essential to maintaining national credibility, especially so for our country, which depends on international trade for 70 percent of its economy," Prime Minister Han Seung Soo said Wednesday during a meeting with top governing party leaders at which the decision was made to publish the legal notice.

The White House said on Tuesday that President George W. Bush would not visit South Korea in July. South Korea had hoped for a visit by Bush, but recent protests raised fears that a Bush visit might turn the beef protests into anti-American demonstrations.

As I've noted before, the beef kerfluffle has been a convenient rallying point for dissatisfaction with government leadership.  Plus, it's worth noting that there are waves of anti-Americanism in South Korea every few years...I lived through one of them.  They usually quiet down when North Korea does something violent and stupid, reminding folks and helping to teach a new generation that our troop presence does occasionally serve a purpose there.

Random Nature #170

Impact Protein:  There are a myriad of federal, state, and local rules when it comes to dealing with roadkill.  In 2004, Maryland did a survey of several states and provinces regarding how they manage carcass disposal...the responses are all over the map.  And let's not forget that there's more to consider than just the big carcasses.  Pulling a paragraph from this quirky article on the topic...

In a Rapid City, S.D., gallery, a fellow told me in a hushed voice about harvesting quills from road-killed porcupines to make jewelry. Like many people I met along the way, he was reluctant to speak openly about his scavenging. Federal and state laws prohibit collection of certain animals, from the road or otherwise. Unless you’re a Native American with a religious permit, it’s illegal to possess an eagle feather. If you hit a deer in Arizona, you can salvage the meat, but in Oregon it’s illegal.

This winter in Northern Idaho, volunteers were gathering moose and deer carcasses and providing the meat to a food bank in Coeur d'Alene.  Obviously they can't use sick animals, rotting carcasses, etc.  But note that it's not always illegal to salvage meat in Oregon.  For instance four years ago,

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife announced Monday that it is reinstating the permit held by Lois Tulleners, owner and manager of the White Wolf Sanctuary at Tidewater, had, since 1998. The permit allows her to take road killed animals as food for her wolves.

...

Tulleners received a permit for the retrieval of dead deer and elk from public roads, and purchased a winch system with which to haul onto her pickup the carcasses. After she was told that her permit was being pulled, several state and local government agencies contacted ODFW to protest the decision.

Chris Wheaton, regional manager for ODFW, said the decision to remove the permit was not based on the sanctuary's profit or non-profit status, according to a March 12, 2004 letter to Tulleners. "The decision was made because it was decided that allowing the use of a public resource (deer and elk) to benefit a non-public entity is not an appropriate use of the state's wildlife resources," Wheaton said. 

Rather than diving off into some of Oregon's laws regarding who can possess and sell what to whom...

Waste Disposal:  Caltrans got into some trouble last fall in San Mateo County related to people discovering a couple of dump sites composed mostly of bleached bones. 

Violating Caltrans policy, some road crew members used the remote sites apparently to save time rather than drive to a rendering plant or an animal shelter, Caltrans officials have said. Both sites are located in areas where deer often are hit by cars.

Domestic animals are supposed to be taken to animal shelters for possible identification.  The boneyards got folks asking around to see what other agencies were doing with their corpses.

Steve Martarano, spokesman for California Fish & Game, said Friday that "sometimes we do leave them for nature to take its course, but we don't have any dumping sites or anything like that."

What local wardens do with roadkill "depends on the situation and the area," according to Martarano. "In a remote area, we may take it off to the side of the road or down the hill. When we do that, we are very conscious of water issues."

If the agency needs to dispose of a drugged animal that had to be euthanized, fish and game employees will take the carcass to a rendering plant "because we don't want those drugs in the environment," he said.

But rendering is getting increasingly expensive, especially if there isn't a plant nearby.  Heck, just collecting the animals costs money.  In Illinois, the state has decided to save by letting nature do the work.

The state's transportation department says it won't be picking up as much roadkill left along roads because it spent too much of its budget during the winter.

IDOT says it spent more than twice the allotted $40 million on clearing ice and snow removal because of rising fuel costs and harsh weather last winter.

Dead animals in driving lanes and any deemed hazardous to motorists will be removed. But much of the rest will be left for scavengers.

Some creatures will certainly be happy.

Making Mulch:  In New York, more than 75,000 deer alone become roadkill each year.  Little wonder the state has been a pioneer in composting carcasses. 

Using a simple composting technique, the Cornell Waste Management Institute (CWMI) discovered it takes about a year to turn deer carcasses into compost that can be used for landscaping purposes along the very roadsides that were the animals' death sites. The cost of composting a deer: less than $25 a carcass.Obviously, not a large percentage of roadkill is salvageable.

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Increasingly, state, county and local highway departments are actively turning to composting to solve the ubiquitous deer problem. Already more than a dozen composting sites, called animal piles, have been established around the state, including one long "windrow" installed by the NYSDOT in Ulster County that, over time, has grown to contain 700 carcasses.

Composting animal carcasses is not new; chickens, pigs, calves, cows and even whales have been composted, according CWMI. Federal- and state-funded research conducted by Harrison and CWMI staff members Jean Bonhotal and Mary Schwarz shows that, for deer, passively aerated piles -- essentially elongated piles of wood chips in which deer carcasses are placed side-by-side -- are not only inexpensive but protect human health and the environment. 

Microbial action in the pile causes it to heat up. Once the internal temperature reaches 110 degrees Fahrenheit, natural processes decompose the carcass within six months. The high temperatures and microbial processes during composting greatly reduce or kill most pathogens, minimizing the chance of spreading disease. It takes a year to make usable compost, according to Harrison. 

One of those concerns is the following... 

Chronic wasting disease has not been detected among wild deer in Montana but exists in some border states and provinces, and likely will show up in deer here, said Feldner, wasting disease coordinator for the wildlife department.

He said composting will not defeat chronic wasting disease prions, which are complex proteins, and there could be a risk of transferring the illness to deer through environmental contamination from sick, composted animals.

Research continues.

Not Just Roadkill:  Another factor is contributing to the adoption of carcass composting in part of Montana.  Grizzlies are drawn to the dead--especially in the Fall--for a nutritious meal.  That became problematic in the Blackfoot Valley when grizzlies started recolonizing the area and visiting the boneyards on ranches.

Faced with a growing population of the endangered bears in the Blackfoot Valley, a coalition of landowners, agencies and conservationists is disposing of livestock carcasses by sending them to the landfill or a compost pile.

Since 2003, the project has removed more than 1,000 livestock carcasses and reduced the number of conflicts between grizzlies and people to nearly zero in the Blackfoot Valley, where the bears are recolonizing former habitat that long ago was converted to ranch land, officials said.

The Montana Department of Transportation operates four composting sites in the Blackfoot Valley, saving the Missoula district about $140 per day in dealing with roadkill.  MDOT used to either drag the carcasses into nearby brush or take them to a landfill.  One of the four composting sites in the Valley has been made available to ranchers, though they use separate piles. 

The project's partners include the Blackfoot Challenge, MDOT, ranchers, FWP, the state Department of Environmental Quality, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Natural Resources Conservation Service and Allied Waste.

The livestock composting costs $12,000 to $15,000 a year, which is funded by donations from ranchers, grants and other funds.

The composting areas are surrounded with electric fence to keep the grizzlies and other unwelcome visitors out. 

Montana cooks the carcasses more quickly than does New York.

The “cooking piles” are built on an asphalt pad, where the carcasses are placed atop a layer of wood chips. A layer of previously composted material is heaped on that, followed by another layer of wood chips. Workers add water and stir the material to accelerate the decomposition.

The wood chips and decomposing carcasses can heat up to more than 170 degrees, creating large piles of what looks and smells like black mulch - except for a few thigh bones and hooves, which also eventually disintegrate.

The piles finish decomposing after about a month in the summer and about 45 days in the winter.

...

MDOT has accumulated about 500 tons of the finished mulch at its composting sites in west-central Montana. The mulch is being stored on site until state authorities decide whether it can be spread along roadsides to grow native grasses.

Label it organic and it will sell.

Additional Beef Labeling

Gee, if another country complains enough, our meatpackers will provide additional labeling on the beef they sell.  Wouldn't it be great if the USDA would force them to respond to us rather than running interference.

...Tyson Foods Inc., as well as Cargill Meat Solutions Corp., JBS Swift & Co., National Beef Packing Co. and Smithfield Beef Group Inc., said the labels would show whether the cattle were younger or older than 30 months when slaughtered. The companies said in a joint news release that it would be up to South Korean customers to decide whether to purchase the meat or not.

...

U.S beef has been banned by South Korea for most of the past 4½ years over fears of mad cow disease. The South Korean Agriculture Ministry said in April it would begin loosening restrictions on U.S. beef imports, beginning with imports from cattle younger than 30 months.

Last week, the ministry announced that the government had finalized new regulations that call for South Korea to import nearly all cuts of American beef without restrictions on the cattle's age.

Nearly 60,000 people took to the streets of Seoul over the weekend to denounce the government and call for the import agreement to be scrapped, and South Korea announced Monday that it would delay its planned resumption of U.S. beef imports.

That April beef deal (previous blog here) has become a lightning rod for dissatisfaction with President Lee Myung Bak.  He even gave a televised apology last month for his handling of the agreement--a compromise made in hopes of gaining approval of a free trade agreement.  The U.S. isn't helping matters.  From this link...

Alexander Vershbow, the U.S. ambassador to South Korea, said Washington saw no need to renegotiate an April agreement the two countries reached to resume imports.

"I can't deny that we're disappointed by this," he said on Tuesday after meeting the South Korean minister of foreign affairs and trade.

Vershbow said the deal was "based on international science, and there is no scientific justification to postpone implementation."

Way to ease the tensions there, ambassador.  American arrogance doesn't sell anywhere.  Back to the original article.  

"We're making this offer in response to the concerns of some South Korean consumers by voluntarily implementing this temporary labeling program as a way of ensuring the reopening of the market and attempting to rebuild the confidence of the South Korean consumer," Tyson spokesman Gary Mickelson said.

For Tyson, the world's largest meat producer, the loss of the South Korean market four years ago tore away its third-largest export location, behind Japan and Canada. In 2003, South Korea represented 15 percent of its $2.2 billion international sales, Mickelson said. Last year, the company reported international sales of $1.9 billion.

...

Under the companies' plan, the labels would be used for up to 120 days. Mickelson said the companies were still working out how the labels would look and where they would be placed on boxes.

It will be interesting to see the feedback that customers provide.  What type of discount will it take to sell the older beef?

Protectionism and Beef Sales in South Korea

Last Friday, South Korea agreed to lift its restrictions on the importation of U.S. beef.  It's the latest gambit in the ongoing negotiations over a free trade agreement.

South Korea’s agreement with the U.S. to open its market to U.S. beef products from cattle of all ages is outstanding news for the U.S. beef industry and for South Korean consumers, said Philip M. Seng, president and chief executive officer of the U.S. Meat Export Federation.

"Our industry has lost between $3.5 billion and $4 billion in beef exports to South Korea since the end of 2003," he said. "And we know that there is a significant demand there for quality U.S. beef that has not been satisfied for more than four years."

What?  When the U.S. suffered its first case of mad cow disease, South Korea--then our third biggest beef customer--cut off imports.  Australia, which has never suffered a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, eagerly stepped in to fill most of the void.  It now provides nearly three-quarters of South Korea's beef imports. 

South Koreans have been pleased overall with Australian beef, while they've been unhappy with our quality control since limited imports have been resumed (previous blog here).  Demand last year for U.S. beef rebounded to only about half the previous levels.

According to the agreement, the import protocol agreed upon with the South Korean government will allow U.S. beef and beef products from cattle of all ages, which is consistent with World Animal Health Organization (OIE) guidelines and prevailing international standards.

During the last four years, the U.S. beef industry has suffered greatly from lost trade with South Korea. In 2003, the United States exported 543.6 million pounds of beef and beef variety meats to South Korea, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics. However, in 2007 the U.S. exported more than 10 times less this amount ― an estimated 53.4 million pounds valued at $117.3 million, although shipments were limited to boneless beef from cattle under 30 months of age and the market was only open for an intermittent five months during the year.

"While this is momentous news for the U.S. beef industry, it also clears one of the major obstacles to the approval of a formal free-trade agreement between our two nations," said Mr. Seng.

That last point is key.  Switching links...

The agreement comes just hours before South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, in the United States on his first overseas trip since taking office in February, meets U.S. President George W. Bush at the Camp David presidential retreat.

U.S. lawmakers have said a landmark trade pact the two countries struck about a year ago would be scuttled unless South Korea opened its market fully to U.S. beef.

Analysts have estimated the trade deal, which needs approval by legislatures in both countries, could boost their two-way, $78 billion annual trade by about $20 billion.

That proposed free trade agreement (FTA) would eliminate the 40 percent tariff that South Korea assesses on U.S. beef imports.  Our beef would then enjoy a price advantage over Australian beef, which is also subject to the tariff.  Bargain shopping (excuse me, pent-up demand) would then drive increased sales of American beef in South Korea. 

However, even with South Korea compromising on beef imports, there's no guarantee that Congress will pass the proposed FTA.  As the debate over the Colombian agreement has shown, protectionism is rather popular at the moment.  If Congress backs away from the proposed FTA with South Korea, it would end up protecting the Australian beef industry at the expense of ours.

FYI, Australia is in the early stages of negotiating a free trade agreement with South Korea. 

Lawsuits Over Canadian Mad Cow Cases

Back in mid-'06, I concluded a post on mad cow disease with the following paragraph:

By the way, cattle producers in four Canadian provinces are suing Ridley Incorporated for continuing to use cattle remains in the cattle feed it produced after mad cow was first discovered in Canada (1993) but before the feed ban (1997).  Experience in Great Britain had already shown the connection in spreading mad cow prions, though there is no evidence that Ridley's feed spread them in Canada.  Ridley, an Australian Company headquartered in Winnipeg, Manitoba, makes animal feeds and animal health products at 41 plants in the U.S. and Canada...including under the names Feed-Rite and Hubbard Feeds. 

Those lawsuits claimed that Ridley's feed was the most likely source of the mad cow outbreak which began in 2003.  Here's how those and more lawsuits against Ridley are proceeding.

The company said in a press release Tuesday that it will pay $6 million into a plaintiffs' settlement trust fund to settle claims against it in four co-ordinated lawsuits filed by ranchers in Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan.

"Ridley makes no admission of liability or wrongdoing in the matter and we will continue to contest any allegation we were responsible for the plaintiffs' damages," said Ridley CEO Steve VanRoekel in the company's release.

However, he said, "resolving these lawsuits now minimizes the costs associated with defending an already lengthy litigation, eliminates the uncertainty, and allows us to move our business forward."

The proposed suits had alleged that negligence by both Ridley and the federal government led to the infection of an Alberta cow with mad cow disease, and the subsequent BSE crisis starting in May 2003.

The resulting import restrictions imposed by many nations--especially the U.S. (easily the biggest buyer of Canadian beef & cattle)--cost Canadian ranchers, feedlot owners, etc. billions.

The suits are expected to continue against the federal government, however, and Ridley expects to be involved in those suits in some way other than as a defendant. Thus, the company expects it will still have to ring up related legal bills and pay those out of corporate earnings.

The agreement calls for Ridley to allow the four suits to be certified as class actions, so the settlement "class"--including anyone who was a Canadian cattle producer on May 20, 2003--can be informed of the settlement and their right to opt out. Any cattle producers who opt out of this settlement would still have the right to try to sue Ridley, but on their own dime.

Ridley would then pay its settlement into the fund, as long as the number of producers who opt out is below an agreed-upon limit.

It's not yet known how the settlement cash will be paid or how many cattle producers will be paid. The 2001 census of agriculture lists 67,838 farms producing beef cattle, as well as 18,321 dairy farms. For each of those to share equally in the Ridley settlement would mean payouts of less than $70 each.

Less than $70. 

Fortunately, the mad cow outbreak hasn't been responsible for any deaths in people...at least yet.  Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease takes years to strike. 

Yet Another Case

At least it was an older cow this time...

Canadian officials today reported the country's 11th case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, but said it will not affect Canada's BSE risk status as defined by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).

The disease was found in a 13-year-old beef cow from Alberta, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) announced. "The animal's carcass is under CFIA control, and no part of it entered the human food or animal feed systems," the agency said in a news release.

The cow's age means it was born before Canada and the United States banned the use of ruminant animal protein in cattle feed in 1997. Cattle are believed to contract BSE by eating feed containing material from infected animals. People who eat meat from BSE-infected cattle may run a risk of contracting the human equivalent of the brain-wasting disease—variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

In recognition of Canada's BSE surveillance and control measures, the OIE classified the country as a "controlled risk" country for BSE in May of this year. "This case will not affect Canada's risk status," the CFIA said.

Remember that while the U.S. borders are now open to Canadian cattle up to eight years old, there is no age limit on the meat slaughtered in Canada and then shipped here.

Canadian officials are working to find the infected cow's herd mates at the time of birth and to determine how it might have been infected, the CFIA said.

And we know that Canadian recordkeeping isn't good enough for them to find all of those cattle.