FDA freezes delivery of meal from condemned Texas cow; by Daniel Yovich on 5/6/04 for Meatingplace.com 

The Food and Drug Administration is placing a hold on the meat and bone meal made from the cow in Texas that displayed central nervous system disorder symptoms last week but was not tested for bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

In a written statement, FDA said feed produced from the rendered suspect cow can be used only for swine feed.

"If it is not used in swine feed, this material will be destroyed," the FDA said. "Pigs have been shown not to be susceptible to BSE. If the firm agrees to use the material for swine feed only, FDA will track the material all the way through the supply chain from the processor to the farm to ensure that the feed is properly monitored and used only as feed for pigs."

Under current regulations, the material from this Texas cow is not allowed in feed for cattle or other ruminant animals. FDA's action specifying that the material go only into swine feed means also that it will not be fed to poultry.