Oldtimer
Well-known member
An excerpt out of a Jan 25, 2006 Missoulian article:
On another issue affecting Montana, Schweitzer lashed out again at the U.S. Department of Agriculture over the most recent mad cow disease case in Canada. In the past the governor has referred to the department as "a bunch of stooges working for the multinational meat companies," and he said this week the USDA still does not represent the interests of Montana consumers and producers.
"I'm very proud of our legislature for proactively passing the country-of-origin labeling," Schweitzer said. "Congress has passed it for the last five, six years, then they refuse to enforce it."
Schweitzer said if the federal government isn't enforcing national country-of-origin labeling by the end of 2006, "we will in Montana," something he says will give the state a competitive advantage.
"We have safe beef in Montana, vegetarian beef," Schweitzer pointed out. "We're not feeding bone meal, we are very low risk of having BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) in our herds in Montana, so when people are looking at a safe, wholesome beef product the ability of putting 'Made in Montana,' 'Made in the USA' on our beef products will give us a leg up in the market."
Schweitzer said the USDA never got to the bottom of the problem with Canadian beef when it suspended imports from that country in May 2003.
Saying the feeding of bone meal to cattle is one root of the BSE problem, Schweitzer said Canada has suspended the use of those kinds of feeds for seven years.
"This cow was 6 years old, so it is clear they are not enforcing their own rules," Schweitzer added. "They still have operators that are cutting corners in the feed business and using cheap protein and calcium sources.
"So I think we need to put the hammer down," Schweitzer said, "and say, 'Look, if you're not enforcing your rule - and you clearly aren't' - then we need to step in and stop this importation of these cattle because we have a wholesome product, we have a quality product, and we're losing our market share all over the world because of some bad actors in Canada."
On another issue affecting Montana, Schweitzer lashed out again at the U.S. Department of Agriculture over the most recent mad cow disease case in Canada. In the past the governor has referred to the department as "a bunch of stooges working for the multinational meat companies," and he said this week the USDA still does not represent the interests of Montana consumers and producers.
"I'm very proud of our legislature for proactively passing the country-of-origin labeling," Schweitzer said. "Congress has passed it for the last five, six years, then they refuse to enforce it."
Schweitzer said if the federal government isn't enforcing national country-of-origin labeling by the end of 2006, "we will in Montana," something he says will give the state a competitive advantage.
"We have safe beef in Montana, vegetarian beef," Schweitzer pointed out. "We're not feeding bone meal, we are very low risk of having BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) in our herds in Montana, so when people are looking at a safe, wholesome beef product the ability of putting 'Made in Montana,' 'Made in the USA' on our beef products will give us a leg up in the market."
Schweitzer said the USDA never got to the bottom of the problem with Canadian beef when it suspended imports from that country in May 2003.
Saying the feeding of bone meal to cattle is one root of the BSE problem, Schweitzer said Canada has suspended the use of those kinds of feeds for seven years.
"This cow was 6 years old, so it is clear they are not enforcing their own rules," Schweitzer added. "They still have operators that are cutting corners in the feed business and using cheap protein and calcium sources.
"So I think we need to put the hammer down," Schweitzer said, "and say, 'Look, if you're not enforcing your rule - and you clearly aren't' - then we need to step in and stop this importation of these cattle because we have a wholesome product, we have a quality product, and we're losing our market share all over the world because of some bad actors in Canada."