Dept. of Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer told reporters yesterday that downer cattle, which cannot stand up on their own, would be banned from slaughterhouses. The Washington Post’s Christopher Lee reports that the ban comes after a California slaughterhouse was videotaped in January abusing cows and then using prods to make them stand before slaughter.

Downer cows are already kept out of the food supply, because they may be infected with mad cow disease. Schafer characterized his decision as not about stopping tainted meat, but as a humane action on behalf of cows. Read Lee here. MB

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