Agriculture Dept. Blocking Comprehensive Mad Cow Tests

A Kansas meatpacker has sparked an industry fight by proposing testing all the company's cattle for mad cow disease.
Creekstone Farms Premium Beef wants to look for the disease in every animal it processes. The Agriculture Department has said no. Creekstone says it intends to sue the department.
...The department and larger meat companies oppose comprehensive testing, saying it cannot assure food safety. Testing rarely detects the disease in younger animals, the source of most meat.
...Larger companies worry that Japanese buyers would insist on costly testing and that a suspect result might scare consumers away from eating beef.