USDA's announcement that it had confirmed a third case of mad cow disease in the U.S. has triggered new pressure on federal regulators to tighten animal feed rules. Consumers Union, a major consumer organization, charged the government has been dragging its feet for two years.
After the first case of mad cow was discovered in the United States in December 2003, then FDA Commissioner Mark McClellan said that the FDA would end the practices of feeding chicken coop floor wastes, restaurant wastes, and cows' blood to cattle, all of which FDA said at the time could potentially transmit the mad cow disease agent. However the agency never followed through," said Jean Halloran, food policy expert at Consumers Union.