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THE US Department of Agriculture in Texas reportedly ordered one of its technicians not to test a cow for mad cow disease at a Texas slaughterhouse in late April, even though the cow had been rejected for human consumption after staggering and falling, symptoms of the disease.

The USDA policy is to test such cattle, and it says it is investigating the incident. But Felicia Nestor of the Government Accountability Project said last week she has been told of other such suspicious animals going untested.

Starting in June, the USDA plans to test more than 200,000 animals to gauge the extent of BSE in the US. To be valid, the tests must include high-risk animals, and the Texas incident calls the programme’s credibility into question.

The slaughterhouse, Lone Star Beef in San Angelo, handles 175,000 cattle a year, mainly ageing dairy cattle, a group especially likely to have BSE as they are often slaughtered when milk production falls – a possible early sign of the disease. Yet the plant has only ever done three BSE tests, all early last year. Its owner told reporters that this is because it rejects downers – cattle unable to walk – as it supplies the McDonald’s burger chain. The USDA mostly tests downers.

Brain and spinal cord from the suspect cow – tissues that harbour the most BSE infection – will end up in pig feed. An international panel of scientists advised the USDA this year that using infected animals this way risks spreading the disease.