Obama changes rules for beef safety in light of Chino slaughterhouse abuse

President Obama is planning a sweeping overhaul of the nation's food safety system. He's also vowed to tighten oversight of slaughterhouses. (President Barack Obama: "As part of our commitment to public health, our Agriculture Department is closing a loophole in the system to ensure that diseased cows don't find their way into the food supply.") That loophole allowed beef processors to slaughter some types of so-called "downer cows" for meat. Obama says new rules will bar that practice. It's a rule change triggered by food safety violations at a Chino slaughterhouse that led to the biggest beef recall in U.S. history. KPCC's Steven Cuevas has more.

Steven Cuevas: A couple of things went wrong at the Westland Hallmark Meat Company. First of all, workers used forklifts and fire hoses to shove hobbled or "downer cows" to slaughter. Those techniques are banned... but using "downer cows" for meat is okay, if the cow tests negative for Mad Cow Disease, salmonella, and other diseases.

Now here's the other thing that went wrong at Westland: some "downer cows" didn't always get that test.

Denise Clendening: It was just really depressing; disturbing to think this was happening in our community, and that as a community we could do better than that.

Cuevas: Denise Clendening is a food safety and animal rights activist from Ontario. She's been calling for tighter food safety laws since last year's beef recall. She's also wanted a complete ban on using "downer cows" for meat. The president's move to prohibit all "downer cows" from the food supply should take effect in about a month.

Clendening: But I'd still like to see more assurances.

Cuevas: Clendening says she's still worried. Older cows retired from dairy farms are often sent to slaughter. There's a greater risk of disease with older cows, but only a small number of all cattle slaughtered for meat are tested for disease.

Clendening: They test less than one percent of the cows for Mad Cow Disease, so if you don't test, you don't find. So with these older cows that are going through, I would think we need a higher level of assurance that the product is safe.

Cuevas: President Obama pledged an additional billion dollars to strengthen the nation's food inspection process. The Administration is also beginning a review of food inspection responsibilities now split between two different government departments. That could lead to a single agency in charge of all food inspections.