WASHINGTON (Kyodo)Former U.S. Sen. Nancy Kassebaum Baker, the wife of Ambassador to Japan Howard Baker, has sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture asking it to reconsider its refusal to allow meatpackers to test all slaughtered cattle for mad cow disease, a copy of the letter obtained Thursday showed.
"I've come to strongly believe that the time has come for the USDA to reconsider the decision made to reject 100 percent testing by meatpackers, such as Creekstone Farms Premium Beef in Kansas, and other small meatpackers," Baker said in the letter dated Monday and sent to Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman.
Creekstone made a copy of the letter available to Kyodo News. The magazine Meat Marketing and Technology was the first to report on the letter.