Summary
Creekstone Farms Premium Beef is laying off people in its meatpacking plant and the United States Agriculture Department is not helping. Following the appearance of mad cow disease in the United States, many foreign markets refused to import American beef. Creekstone Farms wants to perform testing on their cows in order to check for mad cow disease, but the Agriculture Department refuses to allow it, saying that their cows are too young to test.
Original source:
http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/ap/2004/12/23/ap1728593.html
Details
A Kansas meatpacker, hit by the loss of lucrative export markets because of fears of mad cow disease in American beef, is cutting 150 jobs and reducing production at its slaughterhouse.
Creekstone Farms Premium Beef blamed its inability to do the kind of testing for mad cow, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), that would appease overseas customers.
"What we predicted has happened - that is, we are not able to ship because we are not testing.
We are not doing what the customer wants.
We continue to think that is wrong," said Bill Fielding, Creekstone's chief operating officer.
One year ago Thursday, the nation's first case of mad cow was discovered in a single animal in Washington state.
Many nations, including Japan - the most lucrative overseas market for American beef, with sales exceeding $1.7 billion in 2003 - then closed their borders to U.S. beef imports.
Creekstone Farms wanted to test all the cattle it slaughters for the disease, hoping to appease Japanese officials.
The Department of Agriculture, however, has refused to allow such comprehensive testing.
The agency has said its decision was based strictly on science; the cattle slaughtered by Creekstone are too young to test reliably.
On Thursday, Agriculture Department spokeswoman Julie Quick declined to comment on Creekstone's layoffs, calling it a private business decision.
She said cattle prices are very strong and consumer demand for beef remains high.
The agency has successfully lobbied to reopen $1.7 billion in export markets lost when the first U.S. case was discovered, she said.
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Wednesday, January 19, 2005
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