I 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3705

To amend the Federal Meat Inspection Act to enhance the safety of beef 

and beef food products originating in the United States by requiring 

the testing of cattle for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (commonly 

known as mad cow disease) at the time of slaughter, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 20, 2004

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Agriculture 

A BILL

To amend the Federal Meat Inspection Act to enhance the 

safety of beef and beef food products originating in the 

United States by requiring the testing of cattle for bovine 

spongiform encephalopathy (commonly known as mad 

cow disease) at the time of slaughter, and for other 

purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Mad Cow Testing Act 

5 of 2004’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. POST MORTEM EXAMINATION OF CATTLE FOR BO2 VINE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHY. 

3 (a) TESTING REQUIRED.—Section 4 of the Federal 

4 Meat Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 604) is amended—

5 (1) by striking ‘‘That for’’ and inserting ‘‘(a) 

6 POST MORTEM EXAMINATION REQUIRED.—For’’ ; 

7 and 

8 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub9 section: 

10 ‘‘(b) TESTING FOR BOVINE SPONGIFORM

11 ENCEPHALOPATHY.—(1) As part of the post-mortem ex12 amination and inspection required by subsection (a) of all 

13 cattle carcasses and parts thereof intended for use as 

14 human food, the Secretary shall require that a test be con15 ducted to determine the presence of bovine spongiform 

16 encephalopathy. The Secretary shall specify the type of 

17 test to be used to comply with this requirement. 

18 ‘‘(2) The Secretary shall use only personnel of the 

19 Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to conduct 

20 the tests required by paragraph (1). Notwithstanding the 

21 Act of June 5, 1948 (Chapter 423; 21 U.S.C. 695), all 

22 costs related to the testing shall be borne by slaughtering, 

23 meat-canning, salting, packing, rendering, and other es24 tablishments subject to the testing requirement. The Sec25 retary shall collect fees, at rates determined by the Sec26 retary, from such establishments to cover the costs in-
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1 curred or to be incurred by the Secretary to conduct the 

2 tests. Amounts collected by the Secretary under this para3 graph shall remain available until expended, without fur4 ther appropriation or fiscal year limitation, to carry out 

5 paragraph (1). 

6 ‘‘(3) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), if the Secretary 

7 determines that a test is not available to accurately deter8 mine the presence of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in 

9 cattle under a certain age, the Secretary may delay the 

10 implementation of the testing requirement with regard to 

11 cattle under that age until such time as an accurate test 

12 for cattle of that age is readily available. The Secretary 

13 shall submit to Congress notice of any determination made 

14 under this paragraph, including the reasons why the delay 

15 in implementation is necessary. At least once each year 

16 during the course of an implementation delay granted 

17 under this paragraph, the Secretary shall evaluate whether 

18 an accurate test has been developed for the presence of 

19 bovine spongiform encephalopathy in cattle of the age cov20 ered by the delay. The Secretary shall submit to Congress 

21 the results of the evaluation.’’. 

22 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Section 4(b) of the Federal 

23 Meat Inspection Act, as added by subsection (a), shall 

24 apply to the slaughter of cattle in establishments subject 

25 to the such Act beginning not later than 30 days after 
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1 the date of the enactment of this Act or such earlier date 

2 as the Secretary of Agriculture may prescribe.

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