FARM SCENE: Small Meatpacker Pushes USDA to Permit ... Mad Cow Testing

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FARM SCENE: Small Meatpacker Pushes USDA to Permit Comprehensive Mad Cow Testing
By Roxana Hegeman
Associated Press Writer

ARKANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) - While government regulators try to reassure Americans and international customers the U.S. meat supply is safe from mad cow disease, a fledgling Kansas meatpacker is willing to prove it.

Its survival might depend on it.

Creekstone Farms Premium Beef is one of the nation's smallest meatpacking companies. But it has set off a firestorm at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and within the cattle industry by seeking permission from regulators to privately test all the animals processed at its Arkansas City slaughterhouse for mad cow disease.

At a time when most of the world has banned imports of American beef after the discovery of a single case of mad cow disease in Washington state, Creekstone says it has assurances from Japanese customers they would accept its products - if every animal processed at the plant was tested for the brain-wasting disease.

If Creekstone receives permission from the Agriculture Department to begin such testing, and Japan begins importing Creekstone beef, the little company will have accomplished what nobody else could: reopen an Asian market to U.S. beef.

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