SUNDAY August 17, 2008 (foodconsumer.org) -- Many beef lovers may not know a fact that the meat they eat may come from a downer.   Many if not all downers, cows that can't stand and walk into the slaughter house because of their age or health condition, are processed into beef.

Early an undercover Humane Society employee videotaped at least one downer walking into a Westland/Hallmark slaughterhouse. The video showed how the workers abused the sick or old animals.   Techniques used to force the downers to stand up and walk into the slaughterhouse include waterboarding, Reuters reported early.

The Humane Society of the United States has sued the Food and Drug Administration to ban killing of the downers and the case drew attention from senators, naturalnews.com reported. Sen. Herb Kohl of Wisconsin, chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee, called for a complete ban on downer cows from the food supply.

"These images exposed wholly unacceptable gaps in American meat inspection systems," Kohl was quoted as saying. "Despite the presence of five inspectors at the Westland/Hallmark plant, blatant violations had evidently occurred for some time ... I think we need a more foolproof system."

In 2004, the USDA actually prohibited slaughtering of downers because these animals are at higher risk of mad cow disease or less commonly known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy. It is recognized that eating meat tainted with the disease causes a human version of mad cow disease in humans.

But according to naturalnews.com, the ban was relaxed in 2007 in a way that the slaughtering of animals that collapse after an initial veterinary inspection is allowed.   So long as they are re-examined and the veterinarian believes the cow is safe to eat, the slaughtering process can be completed.

Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer testified before the appropriations subcommittee saying, quoted by naturalnews.com,"I do believe there are cases where downer animals can be approved by the veterinarian and put into the food supply." Schafer added: "They are not sick."

Naturalnews.com cited USDA documents saying "cows with broken limbs, even those that appear otherwise healthy, are 50 times more likely to have mad cow disease than animals that can stand on their own."

A couple of mad cow disease has been even identified in U.S. cows. The testing process has not been easy.   It took three tests conducted by laboratories in both U.S. and U.K. to confirm a case of the disease.

Some critics question how the inspection by a veterinarian could detect cows with mad cow disease and prohibit them from being processed into the food supply chain?

In Japan, each cow is subject to testing for mad cow disease before its meat is released for consumers' purchasing.   In the U.S., private organizations including meat packers are prohibited from testing any cow for mad cow disease.