DOWNER ISSUE GETS MUDDIER

The USDA is still dogding and weaving and flip-flopping on the Mad Cow downer issue, but now Dave Louthan and Tom Ellestad are as well - specifically on the question of whether Ellestad's plant processed downers at all. Felicia Nestor "said she has reviewed Ellestad's records and the facility was processing less than 20 percent downer animals, which was legal until the USDA banned downers from being slaughtered for human consumption in late December." Well, yeah, great, but his affidavit says ZERO downers. What gives? Meanwhile, Louthan is saying "Ninety percent of animals processed there were downers." WTF? The most frustrating thing is that though the USDA vet has supposedly spoken publicly now, there's no Q&A with vet over Louthan's "Smoking Gun" document - the missing temp, antibiotics listings for this particular cow. I continue to believe that that's where the real issue lies, and we'll have to see where this goes from there.