The National Livestock Weekly April 25, 2005 • Vol. 84, No. 28 “The Industry’s Largest Weekly Circulation” www.wlj.net • E-mail:
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[email protected] A Crow Publication Livestock bills unveiled in Congress — Packer ownership and control of livestock has once On April 15, U.S. Sens. Ken ban resurfaces. again become a front burner issue Salazar, D-CO, and Chuck Grass- in Congress. In addition, several ley, R-IA, introduced S 818, a bill — Marking of imported members of the House of Repre- that would keep packers from own- Easing of ‘downer’ cattle proposed. sentatives stoked the country-of- ing live animals for more than sev- origin labeling fight when they in- en business days prior to slaughter. ban weighed by USDA After being a secondary item of troduced a bill that would specifi- Joining as additional Senate spon- The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) discussion over the past year, the cally mark cattle coming in from sors of the bill were Byron Dorgan, idea of banning packer ownership other countries. D-ND; Mark Dayton, D-MN; Mike is looking into the possibility of softening its Enzi, R-WY; Tom Harkin, D-IA; regulation that prevents all non-ambulatory Tim Johnson, D-SD; and John cattle from being processed for human food. Any Thune, R-SD. change in the rule, however, will probably not The legislation, according to happen until after the agency concludes its Salazar representatives, is similar stepped up surveillance program for bovine to the 2002 Farm Bill that was spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).