Strengthen the prevention of mad cow disease, and conduct special inspection on beef in the United States

Lead: Washington, June 25 (Reuters) - the U.S Department of agriculture (USDA) said on Tuesday it will begin a testing system in meat processing plants to detect the small amount of spinal cord and brain tissue that meat may carry, as an additional precaution against the deadly disease Elsa Murano, deputy secretary of the U.S Department of agriculture, told reporters that this is necessary to prevent fake beef products and better prevent mad cow disease "Consumers don't want, and shouldn't, find spinal cord like substances in beef products," Murano said "It's our responsibility to stop fake meat from entering the circulation channels." At present, USDA relies on factory inspectors to find out the spinal cord or brain tissue of any animal even in a small amount when they conduct a comprehensive inspection of the meat quality in the factory Last year, consumer groups urged USDA to introduce the routine test system because cattle's central nervous system is vulnerable to BSE Many meat processing plants in the United States mostly use a kind of equipment called "advanced meat recycling system" in the industry to carry out bone removal, which may accidentally leave spinal cord and brain tissue on meat USDA said its inspectors will routinely inspect meat produced using the device to ensure it does not contain any substances such as spinal cord or brain tissue Murano said the USDA has not yet decided how often to do such tests In addition to routine tests, USDA also said that no meat products found to contain the above-mentioned dangerous substances should be labeled with beef Even if the restricted product has entered the circulation field, it will be recalled Murano said the Ministry of agriculture recommended that meat processing plants retain their products (rather than sell them) during testing to avoid the cost of recalls It is estimated that the detection process will take about one day The USDA program is a challenge for the meat industry because there are also costs associated with temporary retention of products, according to the American Meat Institute But J Patrick Boyle, the group's chairman, said, "but we also understand that consumers need an additional safeguard to confirm that the 'premium meat recycling system' meets their requirements." The first group to ask for the tests, the center for Science in the public interest, said USDA was not doing enough to protect consumption It refers to the failure of the Ministry of agriculture to make a statement in time that "it is against food safety that spinal cord substances are contained in meat products" (author:) share to feed Weibo share to: