Creekstone Farms Premium Beef

Creekstone Farms Premium Beef, LLC is a beef processing company located in Arkansas City, KS. The company was founded in 1995 by John and Carol Stewart. Originally a purebred Black Angus farm in Campbellsburg, KY, Creekstone Farms entered the processing business in 2003 with the purchase of a 450,000-square-foot (42,000 m²) processing plant in Arkansas City, KS. The company began processing Creekstone Farms Premium Black Angus cattle in May of 2003. In the spring of 2004, Creekstone Farms launched an additional line of Black Angus products - Creekstone Farms Natural Black Angus Beef. John Stewart retired from the company in October 2007 and Creekstone Farms is currently owned by Sun Capital Partners, Inc., a leading investment firm. When Mr. Stewart retired, he retained ownership of the farm in Kentucky, which has since been sold and no longer is connected to the Creekstone Farms brand.

Creekstone Farms is known for its attempt to test all of its beef for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or "mad cow disease"). At a cost of about half a million dollars, Creekstone built a testing lab, the first inside a U. S. meat packing plant, and hired the necessary personnel. In 2004, however, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which controls the sale of testing kits, refused to sell Creekstone enough to test all of its cows.

The USDA's stated position was that allowing any meatpacking company to test every cow would undermine the agency's official position that random testing was scientifically adequate to assure safety. The USDA also claims that testing does not ensure food safety because the disease is difficult to detect in younger animals. An alternative position is that the USDA's objection is the result of pressure from larger meatpacking operations. The president of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association told the Washington Post that "If testing is allowed at Creekstone, we think it would become the international standard and the domestic standard, too." Creekstone Farms says tests cost about $20 per animal, increasing the cost of beef by about 10 cents per pound. The USDA currently tests about 1 percent of cattle slaughtered in the U.S.

In March 2006, Creekstone launched a lawsuit against the USDA for refusing to allow complete testing. On March 29, 2007, Judges James Robertson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that USDA cannot lawfully prevent Creekstone from testing its cattle for BSE. On August 29, 2008, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturned the specific basis for the ruling, but sent the case back to the district court.^[1]

The company reports that Japan's ban on U.S. beef beginning in 2003 caused the company to lose a third of its sales, prompting the layoff of about 150 people.

Notes

1. ^ "Court: U.S. can block BSE testing". High Plains Journal. September 2008. Retrieved September 11, 2008

External links

• Official website (Press releases)
• News articles: 2006 2004
• USAToday: Mad cow watch goes blind
• SFGate: Meatpacker Sues Feds Over Mad Cow Test
• US District Court for the District of Columbia decision