Dairy farmers, increasingly polarized following the COVID-19 pandemic and worried about economic damages, are hiding likely bird flu cases in cows from the feds.
This has a real “hide the zombie bite from your friends” feel to it, albeit on a much grander scale.
The USDA now requires a negative test for cattle to move across state lines, but no federal agency can mandate testing on the farms or go onto the farms without permission from the owners. Government requests to test farmers’ cows have mostly been ignored.
“You have to understand how they approach the world. They take on so much risk every day with what they do in their operation,” Naerebout said. “They are very reluctant on this issue or any other issue to have the government involved.”
So we have a feelings-based food supply. That’s probably fine.
So the USDA is now useless too? If they want approval to sell their cow stuffs the USDA should revoke their license unless they can enter their property to test.
In all fairness, the USDA has been useless for a long time.
Just one of many examples, “treatments” are not considered ingredients, so they don’t need to be disclosed to the consumer. McDonald’s takes mechanically separated chicken bits leftover from Tyson’s boning process, then mixes them with ammonia to kill bacteria, homogenizing it into a pink slime. That slime is pressed into four shapes distinct shapes, “breaded” and fried, and the ingredients list for McNuggets is not required to include ammonia.
So we have a feelings-based food supply. That’s probably fine.
So the USDA is now useless too? If they want approval to sell their cow stuffs the USDA should revoke their license unless they can enter their property to test.
In all fairness, the USDA has been useless for a long time.
Just one of many examples, “treatments” are not considered ingredients, so they don’t need to be disclosed to the consumer. McDonald’s takes mechanically separated chicken bits leftover from Tyson’s boning process, then mixes them with ammonia to kill bacteria, homogenizing it into a pink slime. That slime is pressed into four shapes distinct shapes, “breaded” and fried, and the ingredients list for McNuggets is not required to include ammonia.