More than a decade after it banned slaughter of “downer” cattle to provide meat for human consumption, USDA said it will ban slaughter of veal calves that are unable to stand or walk when they arrive at packing plants. The Food Safety and Inspection Service said the ban, to take effect 60 days after publication in the Federal Register, will mean that the calves receive better treatment.
The 2004 ban on downer cattle was part of USDA safeguards against mad cow disease, formally named bovine spongiform encephalopathy, primarily a disease of older cattle. Until now, non-ambulatory calves could be slaughtered and the meat sold for human consumption if the calves regained the abiliity to walk after being warmed or rested. Cattle sell for higher prices if the meat can enter the human food supply.
The Humane Society of the United States petitioned USDA in 2013 to ban slaughter of downer calves for human food. “The new rule will create a financial incentive for producers to treat all calves better to avoid creating downers, and take away any incentive to use cruel methods to force the calves through the slaughter process,” said HSUS chief Wayne Pacelle, who called the Obama administration “the most pro-animal administration in our nation’s history.”