Coverup Charged At Slaughterhouses

The British government was accused Thursday of having suppressed a year-old report that found its slaughterhouses guilty of practices that can contribute to the spreading of mad cow disease and E. coli bacteria poisoning.

The study on which the report was based discovered evidence of “major fecal contamination,” the principal source of E. coli 0157, salmonella and other organisms, on carcasses being prepared for human consumption and found that spinal cords were not always being discarded, a practice that has been blamed for letting matter infected by mad cow disease into animal feed.

The report called for the creation of a national policy to define unacceptable contamination and urged that dirty animals be refused entry at all slaughterhouses.