Bosso, 8/19/05, p. 1
Introduction
This paper is an initial cut at understanding the dynamics of food safety regulation
in the United States and Canada, with a particular focus on the degree to which the
substance and process of food safety regulation in these two federal systems have been
shaped by continental economic integration under respective free trade agreements. For
this purpose I focus on the emergence of North American cases of Bovine Spongiform
Encephalopathy (BSE), the so-called “mad cow” disease that first came to global
attention in the mid-1980s, with major negative economic impacts on national beef
industries wherever it emerged.
1
I was first attracted to this particular issue in a typically serendipitous manner. As
part of a larger project on understanding the politics of food in the United States, in
March 2003 I drove around Iowa to interview farmers about their livelihoods, changes
they saw in agriculture, and rural life generally. In one such conversation, the owner of a
small row crop and cattle operation in southwestern Iowa casually mentioned that he was
about to receive a new shipment of calves from Saskatchewan. Seeing my quizzical look,
he elaborated: many small midwest and western U.S. cattle producers do not breed their
own stock, but instead purchase so-called “backgrounder” calves, each weighing around
800 pounds, from Canadian breeders. These animals are then fattened to around 1,200
pounds in open pasture and feedlots, at which time they are sent to slaughter. Or at least
that’s the way it worked before May 2003, when the first known indigenous (as versus
imported) case BSE in North America came to light.
An integrated industry More than most consumers realize (or possibly care), the
beef industry in the U.S. and Canada--which includes both live animals and dressed
Convention