04/19/06 Creekstone suit against USDA

Creekstone Lawsuit A lawsuit has been filed against the USDA by a beef processor. I'm Jeff Keane; I'll be right back with some details. Creekstone Farms, beef processors based in Kansas has filed suit against the USDA in United States District Court of the District of Columbia. Creekstone CEO, John Stewart says the company is charging the USDA has overstepped its legal authority and became "a roadblock" for their company to satisfy customer needs. About two years ago, I told you about Creekstone wanting to conduct a BSE test on all the cattle they process. This would have let Creekstone import beef into Japan and Japan would have paid for the testing costs. The USDA refused to supply the test kits to Creekstone stating the test would not increase food safety since BSE is usually undetectable in the age of cattle Creekstone was processing. At that time, I said we would have to see how this confrontation played out. Well, now we know  and it seems too bad the problem finally caused a lawsuit. I think Creekstone should have been able to test the cattle they processed and this would have put U.S. beef back into Japan way quicker than the political process that was used to finally open that border to U.S. imports. The USDA does a good job of protecting our American agriculture from unwanted foreign pests, regulating food processing plants and the hundreds of others safeguards they provide, but when it comes to marketing techniques they should stand back and let someone else do the job. I'm Jeff Keane. Western Livestock Reporter 3/29/06