State OKs new regulations to thwart mad cow disease

Associated Press
Indiana Star
January 16, 2004

Indiana adopted emergency rules Thursday to meet federal regulations aimed at keeping mad cow disease from getting into the beef supply.

The rules, approved by the Indiana State Board of Animal Health, ban meat-processing plants from using parts -- such as brains of cattle older than 30 months and small intestines -- that scientists say are most likely to carry the protein that causes bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease.

The new rules also ban using "downer" cattle, those that are too sick to stand up and walk.

The Board of Animal Health, which runs the state meat and poultry inspection program, had to approve the emergency rules, spokeswoman Denise Derrer said.

"The state meat and poultry inspection program by federal law has to be at a minimum equal to federal standards," Derrer said.

Derrer said the federal rules approved two weeks ago apply to federally inspected meat-processing plants. Indiana has about 30 federally inspected plants.

The state inspects 100 other meat-processing plants. About 30 of those are custom-exempt, meaning they are inspected only for sanitation, because meats processed at those plants are solely for the use of the person who owns the livestock.

Dean Dewig, president of the Indiana Meat Packers and Processors Association, said he thought the new requirements were good.

"I wish it would have been done earlier," he said. "If there is any doubt about beef, I don't think it should be put in the food system." Dewig operates a federally inspected plant in Haubstadt, 15 miles north of Evansville.

Steve Beutler, owner of Beutler Meat Packing in Lafayette, said the new rules would have no effect on his small operation.

"I don't butcher downers to begin with," he said.

He also said he didn't use any of the newly banned parts.

"That's all tossed in an inedible barrel," he said.

The rules were passed during the Board of Animal Health's regularly scheduled quarterly meeting. They were passed on an emergency basis so they could be implemented quickly, starting Monday.

Derrer said she believed Indiana's meat-processing plants already were meeting the new requirements.

The board also had a first reading of a rule to make the changes permanent. The board will vote on the permanent rule change again in three months. If passed, the rule would go to Gov. Joe Kernan for his signature.