Food Retailers and Wholesalers Applaud New USDA Safeguards Against Mad Cow Disease

Dec 30, 2003
WASHINGTON, DC — December 30, 2003 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) “has fortified the firewalls protecting the public against exposure to meat from cattle with Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) or mad cow disease,” said Tim Hammonds, president and CEO of the Food Marketing Institute (FMI), commenting on new BSE safeguards announced today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

“The USDA, acting together with the Food and Drug Administration, has adopted or even strengthened the high-priority recommendations we have made for improving our nation's BSE firewalls,” Hammonds said. He cited, in particular, the ban on downer cows and withholding animals being tested for BSE from the human food chain until those tests prove to be negative. (FMI’s recommendations are detailed in “Strengthening BSE Policy in the United States,” released in July 2003 and updated this December. They are available at www.fmi.org.)

Hammonds added, “We believe the new international scientific review panel will address any remaining issues in an appropriate manner.

“This quick and effective action should be a great comfort to our consumers and our trading partners.”

About FMI

As the food industry association, FMI works with and on behalf of the entire industry to advance a safer, healthier and more efficient consumer food supply chain. FMI brings together a wide range of members across the value chain — from retailers that sell to consumers, to producers that supply food and other products, as well as the wide variety of companies providing critical services — to amplify the collective work of the industry. www.FMI.org