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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Mad Cow Testing Act 
of 2004’’.
SEC. 2. POST MORTEM EXAMINATION OF CATTLE FOR BO-
VINE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHY. 
(a) TESTING REQUIRED.—Section 4 of the Federal 
Meat Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 604) is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘That for’’ and inserting ‘‘(a) 
POST MORTEM EXAMINATION REQUIRED.—For’’ ; 
and 
(2) by adding at the end the following new sub-
section: 
‘‘(b) 
TESTING
FOR
BOVINE
SPONGIFORM 
ENCEPHALOPATHY.—(1) As part of the post-mortem ex-
amination and inspection required by subsection (a) of all 
cattle carcasses and parts thereof intended for use as 
human food, the Secretary shall require that a test be con-
ducted to determine the presence of bovine spongiform 
encephalopathy. The Secretary shall specify the type of 
test to be used to comply with this requirement. 
‘‘(2) The Secretary shall use only personnel of the 
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to conduct 
the tests required by paragraph (1). Notwithstanding the 
Act of June 5, 1948 (Chapter 423; 21 U.S.C. 695), all 
costs related to the testing shall be borne by slaughtering, 
meat-canning, salting, packing, rendering, and other es-
tablishments subject to the testing requirement. The Sec-
retary shall collect fees, at rates determined by the Sec-
retary, from such establishments to cover the costs in-
curred or to be incurred by the Secretary to conduct the 
tests. Amounts collected by the Secretary under this para-
graph shall remain available until expended, without fur-
ther appropriation or fiscal year limitation, to carry out 
paragraph (1). 
‘‘(3) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), if the Secretary 
determines that a test is not available to accurately deter-
mine the presence of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in 
cattle under a certain age, the Secretary may delay the 
implementation of the testing requirement with regard to 
cattle under that age until such time as an accurate test 
for cattle of that age is readily available. The Secretary 
shall submit to Congress notice of any determination made 
under this paragraph, including the reasons why the delay 
in implementation is necessary. At least once each year 
during the course of an implementation delay granted 
under this paragraph, the Secretary shall evaluate whether 
an accurate test has been developed for the presence of 
bovine spongiform encephalopathy in cattle of the age cov-
ered by the delay. The Secretary shall submit to Congress 
the results of the evaluation.’’. 
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Section 4(b) of the Federal 
Meat Inspection Act, as added by subsection (a), shall 
apply to the slaughter of cattle in establishments subject 
to the such Act beginning not later than 30 days after