Tri-State Neighbor: South Dakota Farm Newspaper

To the Editor: The other day I had the opportunity to read Sen. Frank Kloucek's letter that was printed in the Tri-State Neighbor. As I was reading it I thought about a few things that Frank and I have in common. I too had a T-Bone steak for supper recently. I grilled one steak for myself and another for my wife that evening. As with many South Dakota families, we have beef at our home for dinner and supper on a regular basis and nearly every time we eat out. That hasn't changed since a case of BSE was found in the United States.

The recent case of BSE that was found after a retest shows the system in place is working. The animal was a 12-year-old cow born and raised in Texas that was delivered to a pet food plant. The cow did not enter the human food or animal feed supply.

Sen. Kloucek should know full well the United States has had a ruminant feed ban in place since 1997 restricting the feeding of bone meal to cattle. The cow that recently tested positive for BSE would have been 4 years old when the ban went into effect.

Sen. Kloucek's declaration that mandatory country-of-origin labeling (COOL) is a matter of national food security is severely misguided. Currently, most imported meat in the United States is sold through foodservice channels and is USDA inspected. Imported beef sold through foodservice channels is exempt from country-of-origin labeling while nearly 90 percent of the beef sold in supermarkets and grocery stores is of United States origin. A mandatory COOL system is not required for food safety or national security. We already have safeguards in place to assure that.

The belief that we should keep the border closed to Canadian cattle and beef until Canada meets our standards is absurd. When an animal of United States origin tests positive for BSE, keeping our borders closed to Canadian beef only gives other countries ammunition to refuse United States-raised beef exports. Sen. Kloucek's claim that Canada has lower standards for their beef production than the United States is illogical, since we have virtually the same regulations.

Finally, comparing the promotion of agriculture and livestock feeding by NCBA and Ag United to the extremist acts of PETA is unbelievable. The actions of PETA and its members do nothing to support or promote South Dakota's number one industry, agriculture. The South Dakota Cattlemen's Association, NCBA and Ag United support all sizes of farms and ranches. Many large farms support multiple families that are owners of those farms, while others provide jobs for the community.

Lastly, on May 23, 2005 the United States Supreme Court declared the $1 per head beef checkoff constitutional. The checkoff promotes all beef because everyone pays, importers included.

This Fourth of July weekend, my family enjoyed several meals featuring beef. It makes the best meal, indoors or outside on the grill and I don't need a label to tell me that.

- Scott Jones

President-elect, South Dakota Cattlemen's Association, Midland, S.D.

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