The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is announcing an atypical case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), a neurologic disease of cattle, in a six year old mixed-breed beef cow in Florida. This animal never entered slaughter channels and at no time presented a risk to the food supply, or to human health in the United States. USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s (APHIS) National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) confirmed that this cow was positiv

An FSIS petition regarding COOL, requests the Food Safety and Inspection Service change policy to ensure only U.S. domestic meat products can be labeled “Product of the USA.” The original deadline for comments was Aug. 17, and the agency has received nearly 2,000 — mostly supportive of the change. On Monday, FSIS extended the comment period to Sept. 17. An FSIS spokesman told Capital Press in an email the deadline was extended due to significant interest from stakeholders. In

The Cattle Trace program project is slated to begin Fall 2018. This collaborative effort is comprised of the Kansas Department of Agriculture, USDA, Kansas State University Beef Cattle Institute, Kansas Livestock Association and individual producer stakeholders. KCA continues to support traceability programs, and their development, but maintains a policy that these programs remain voluntary to producers. The project’s aim is to design, research and effectively store results