Friday August 29, 2008 (foodconsumer.org) -- Associated Press today reported an interesting piece of news - a federal appeals court said Friday that the Bush Administration can prohibit meat packers from testing their cows for mad cow disease.

The reason? The court said testing of mad cow disease in dead cows is a diagnosis and diagnosis is part of treatment, The Associated Press reported. Disease treatment is under the control of the United States Department of Agriculture. So USDA has the right to disallow the testing.

The dispute was brought to U.S. appeals court by USDA after it lost the case in a low court to Creekstone Farms Premium Beef, which wants to test mad cow disease in all animals that intend to be used for beef.

Creekstone Farms exports its beef to Japan, which repeatedly asks its trade partner to test mad cow disease because Japan tests each and every cow before its meat is placed on the market.

Creekstone agrees to test animals whose meat is intended for the overseas market. But the USDA early said that private organizations have no right to conducting any test on their slaughtered cows.

One argument of the company brought to court is that testing is not treatment. Because there is no disease treatment involved, the USDA does not have the jurisdiction to intervene. And a low court sided with Creekstone saying the company can conduct its testing.

Big meat packers oppose any testing of beef. They have said if Creekstone Farms does the testing, then they would have to follow suit to conduct their own testing which would result in an increase in the retail price for beef.

However, an early survey showed that consumers welcome mad cow disease testing and are willing to pay an extra for the safety.