Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer announced Tuesday morning that USDA is in the process of drafting an "expedited final rule" that would ban the slaughter of any non-ambulatory animal. The rule won't be published for some months, USDA officials said. It would remove a loophole in existing regulations that allows USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service veterinarians to re-inspect, and allow slaughter, of otherwise healthy animals that go down after the initial ante-mortem inspection at slaughter plants. FSIS official, Dr. Dan Englejohn said analysis of data from calendar 2007 showed that less than 1,000 animals would have been affected nationwide by the rule change. Schafer said the new "bright line" rule would help boost consumer confidence in U.S. beef products, encourage producers to get weak animals to slaughter sooner, and eliminate any incentive at processing plants for inhumane handling of non- ambulatory animals. He emphasized that it was not a food safety issue.
The USDA's 60-day period of expanded FSIS surveillance at spent dairy cow plants ended on May 6. Englejohn said FSIS meanwhile has formally instructed its inspectors and veterinarians to increase random inspections of animal handling.
The USDA action comes as a result of the agency's oversight of non-ambulatory cattle handling in the wake of an undercover investigation by the Humane Society of the United States at the Westland-Hallmark plant in Chino, California. The American Meat Institute, the National Milk Producers Federation, and the National Meat Association petitioned USDA on April 22 to ban all non-ambulatory animals from slaughter, in an action that reversed some prior industry policies. Schafer reported that USDA's decision to open the rulemaking on the non-ambulatory animal ban was made prior to the industry petition.
Source: Feedstuffs
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