The National Renderers Association (NRA) Board of Directors was just wrapping up its spring meeting April 30th in Grapevine, TX, when word came of a cow in Texas that was found with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). Because these kinds of rumors have emerged often since a confirmed case in the United States was announced late last year, more information was needed before getting too excited. The market had already reacted downward from the rumor, which almost always happens.
It was quickly determined that it was not a case of BSE. A cow at a slaughtering facility in south Texas was diagnosed by a federal veterinarian to have a central nervous system disorder and was condemned for human consumption. As is policy, a tissue sample from the brain of the cow should have been taken and tested for BSE. In this case, it wasn’t. The blame game and finger pointing began immediately. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) launched an investigation as to why a sample was not taken.
In some respects it doesn’t matter. The media and some government agencies are treating the situation as if this is another case of BSE. Some politicians and activist groups are calling for new laws, more investigations, and more regulations. All because a cow in Texas was not tested as it should have been. USDA was quick to report that no meat or other products from this cow went into the human food chain. Instead, it went to a renderer. The system worked – again. Nothing more than abiding by the law and the current feed rule should have been expected. Folks were safe and with the rendered material subject to the feed rule, the livestock industry was safe also.
But then the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is responsible for regulating the feed supply, got involved. It tracked down the renderer, who was in compliance with the feed rule and cooperated fully with FDA. The material from the cow was in a batch of rendered product of about 190,000 pounds. FDA informed the renderer the material could only be sold for use in swine feed or be destroyed. Officials at FDA said it could not be sold as poultry feed because they wanted to take all possible precautions to make sure none of the material would end up in poultry litter and possibly be fed back to cattle. Remember, this is a cow that was not tested, but is being treated as if it had BSE.
Well, how many hog operations do you think are in west Texas? You guessed it. With no market for the renderer, his product was not worth very much. In addition to the original 190,000 pounds, the FDA instructed the renderer to flush his system with a like amount of clean raw material. That makes 380,000 pounds of rendered product without a market.
The renderer contacted USDA to seek compensation for his losses. As of this writing, he’s been assured he’ll be taken care of. USDA is attempting to find a market for the product, but it seems strange that USDA must find the funds to com-pensate the renderer for actions taken by the FDA. Hopefully, sometime soon, common sense will prevail.
Getting the Word Out
The NRA participated in a BSE Summit in Fort Worth, TX, in late April. It was under the auspices of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the Cattlemen’s Beef Board. There were approximately 200 beef industry leaders representing producers, feeders, packers, retailers, restaurants, academia, and several state and federal government agencies. The purpose of the summit was to bring the industry together to develop a unified voice on numerous BSE related issues.
Dr. Don Franco, former NRA vice president of Scientific Services, was asked to organize the working group on by-products. This working group provided an excellent oppor-tunity to reach an audience where many sorely needed to actually learn about rendering and understand its significance to the livestock industry.
NRA Chairman Doug Anderson and past chairman Michael Langenhorst made presentations that were forward looking and addressed the broad challenges faced by animal protein producers and the feed sector with a logical resolve and objectivity to conform to regulatory change and ascertain safe feed and safe food, with special emphasis to the control of BSE.
This meeting was among several BSE-related seminars and symposiums held by different groups this year. Dr. Franco and I were invited to participate on the programs of three of these meetings. Each time, the goal was to represent the interests of the rendering industry and to enlighten as well as respond to numerous questions.
We have a very positive story to tell and, for the most part, it is being received very well.
Once again, we will be spreading the renderers’ story to members of Congress and their staffs at the fourth Congressional Fly-In in Washington, DC, June 14-16, 2004. This yearly event has been the best investment for the future of rendering. In addition to background materials on specific issues, every office will also receive a copy of this issue of Render magazine.
From the Association - June 2004 Render