Creek Stone Farms Premium Beef, a Kansas based company, won a case in a lower court granting them the right to test all of their slaughtered cows for mad cow disease. Now the Bush Administration has appealed the case to a federal court in the hopes of reversing the ruling and taking away the company’s right to test all of their cows.

Currently, the USDA only requires 1% of all slaughtered cows to be tested but it places no limit on what percentage can be tested. To meet demands from foreign countries, Creek Stone Farms wanted to test 100% of their cows. Larger beef manufacturing companies opposed this, fearing it would prompt consumers to demand that all of their cows be tested as well, which in turn would raise the production cost of their beef by a few cents a pound; a small price to pay for safer beef.

The USDA says that testing all cows would not necessarily lead to safer beef but would instead lead to a large consumer scare. The government also [apparently] believes that the consumer is not entitled to that sort of information.

Why the Bush Administration would try to limit voluntary testing that goes beyond the USDA’s requirements and ensures that only the safe, healthy beef is sold is open to interpretation.