mad cow disease

Cattle Council grilled in BSE inquiry

February 22, 2010 by admin

(SMH) Coalition senators have clashed with representatives of a key cattle group over new rules covering the importation of beef to Australia. Imports from countries which have experienced bovine spongiform encephalopathy - better known as mad-cow disease - will be allowed from March 1, sparking anger from some in the local cattle industry. But the Red Meat Advisory Council is backing the new rules, subject to further consultations with Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ). The Cattle Council of Australia supports the move but acknowledged to a Senate inquiry hearing on Monday that it still had some concerns about the protocols. That led Nationals senator Fiona Nash to ask cattle council president Greg Brown what would happen if FSANZ ignored his organisation's input. "Obviously, we'll do what we did before, raise the issue publicly," Mr Brown told the Senate's rural and regional affairs committee in Canberra. When pressed further by Senator Nash, Mr Brown admitted that the council had no jurisdiction to insist on changes. read more

It's almost as if there's a desprate attempt to have our Australian beef industry sabotaged by an 'accidental' outbreak of contaminated import meat. We have enough cows here to feed BBQ'ing Australia already, so why all the rush?

Meat workers face axe in Darling Downs

February 9, 2010 by admin

(SMH) A government rapid response team has been sent to investigate the best available options to save the jobs of hundreds of meat workers on the Darling Downs, west of Brisbane. [..] The Leitch Pastoral Group on Monday stood down 230 staff at an abattoir at Killarney, near Warwick, and a food processing plant at Pittsworth, near Toowoomba. [..] Queensland Premier..said on Tuesday the state government would be working with the company and its workers to try to keep the company afloat. [..] "We have a rapid response team that will be out there talking to those workers and providing them and the company with options about how they can keep the organisation afloat." read more

Wow, a "rapid response team" for Queensland meat workers, and only "human wreckage" for 300 NSW meat workers. Do we all live in the same country? Considering the federal government is letting foreign cattle possibly with dieses into Australia, there seems to be an odd pattern of local Australian abattoirs having problems.

Beef imports from BSE nations not traced

February 8, 2010 by admin

Beef imported to Australia from countries where there has been an outbreak of mad cow disease will not be traced back to individual farms, a Senate inquiry has been told. Yet beef farms in Australia are subject to full traceability through the National Livestock Identification System. The double standard drew the ire of coalition senators during a Senate estimates hearing in Canberra on Monday. "How on earth ... can we be sure about the beef that's coming from that (overseas) property?" Nationals senator Fiona Nash asked the chief veterinary officer from the government's Biosecurity Service Group. Asked whether there would be individual assessments of traceability, Dr Andy Carroll replied: "No." read more

Why import healthy cows, let alone possibly infected ones? What's next, importing coal, iron ore, wheat and beach sand?

Beef import decision 'risks Aussie jobs'

February 6, 2010 by admin

(SMH) The federal government's decision to allow beef to be imported from countries that have had outbreaks of mad cow disease could put 300,000 people out of work in a week, a Senate inquiry has heard. [...] Veterinary surgeon Bob Steel told the inquiry once countries that have BSE were allowed to export beef, there was uncertainty surrounding how effective and thorough the overseas testing would be. "The only requirement for these 22 countries is that if they have a cohort of BSE cattle, that they test them, not all the others," Dr Steel said. "Without identification, how can we possibly know what's coming into the country." The US is not required to say how many cases of BSE they have, he said. read more