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 WASHINGTON (AP) - Dairy farmers stand to lose income if the government honors congressional demands for a total ban on downer cattle after a California slaughterhouse failed to keep them out of the food supply.
In 2004, the Agriculture Department banned cows too sick or injured to stand. But in finalizing the rule last year, the department called for cattle that get injured after they pass inspection to be re-evaluated to determine whether they are eligible for slaughter.
This year, an undercover video by the Humane Society of the United States showed workers at Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. in Chino, Calif., dragging downer dairy cows with chains, shocking them with electric prods and shooting streams of water in their faces. The USDA shut down the plant, saying the company hadn't prevented downer cattle from entering the food supply.
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