More slaughterhouse abuses surfacing (Daily Breeze) Sometimes, government inspectors responsible for examining slaughterhouse cattle for mad cow disease and other ills are so short-staffed that they find themselves peering down from catwalks at hundreds of animals at once, looking for such telltale signs as droopy ears, stumbling gait and facial paralysis. [News Source]

USDA inspectors and industry watchdogs say staff shortages threaten safety of US meat supply (Waxahachie Daily Light) LOS ANGELES (AP) – Sometimes, government inspectors responsible for examining slaughterhouse cattle for mad cow disease and other ills are so short-staffed that they find themselves peering down from catwalks at hundreds of animals at once, looking for such telltale signs as droopy ears, stumbling gait and facial paralysis. [News Source]

Cattle have a beef, too. Americans choked on their gherkins last week at the news that authorities had ordered the recall of 65,000 tonnes of beef following the release of an undercover video taken inside a Californian slaughterhouse. [News Source]

Federal food inspectors aren’t doing their job. The latest recall of 143 million pounds of beef raises disturbing questions about the safety of this nation's food supply. [News Source]

Producers differ on cattle tracking. The continued presence of Mexican cattle crossing into the United States helped persuade Dan Bell to enlist in a federal program in which cattle producers register their animals as a means of stopping the spread of ailments such as mad cow disease. [News Source]

Beef recall fallout could take years to evaluate (Baltimore Examiner) Symptoms of mad cow disease in humans can take more than five years to incubate, and the real risk of the millions of pounds of recalled ground beef consumed over the last two years will be difficult to assess, a Johns Hopkins microbiologist said. [News Source]