Gimme A Thick Juicy Steak With A Side Of BSE.

Today, a spokesperson (whose name I missed and doesn’t seem to be on any websites) for the Canadian Cattlemen's Association said that a minimal risk country for BSE has less than 11 casesper year and we've only got three so we're still well within that.

And how many eligible head of cattle were checked last year to see if they were infected? Did we make the 1 in 4,000 target? Or was it closer to our previous goal of 1 in 8,000. I’m not advocating that we check every single animal as is done in Japan and a couple of European countries, or even 25% that much of Europe does. I don't think that level of testing is statistically necessary, but I think that we can do better than the .025% we were targeting for last year.

Minimal risk country. Yes, we have less than 11 confirmed cases in the past 12 months, but there are certainly cases out there that we haven’t found yet, and won’t ever with our current testing strategy. I can’t speak for the government Tools who put together today’s statement, or our testing policy, or the maze of un-enforced regulations guiding the Canadian beef industry, but personally I’d like to minimize my risk to Mad Cow Disease by limiting my exposure to brain destroying prions to something in the neighbourhood of nothing.

Don't you wish that the government would ignore the lobbyists and protect the public for a change? Agriculture Canada and the Canadian Cattlemen's Association, what a bunch of Tools.