It’s grilling season, and beef lovers are focused on their favorite cuts, recipes and barbecuing skills. They shouldn’t have to be concerned with whether those succulent slabs of meat are safe.

That’s the job of government regulators, but their actions aren’t exactly comforting.

Ever since a cow near Yakima tested positive for mad cow disease in December 2003, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration have taken some puzzling steps.

Nearly 18 months ago, the FDA said it would bar the use of chicken litter, cattle blood and restaurant leftovers from cattle feed, which is believed to be the source of the mad cow disease in the Washington state case.

In the aftermath of the mad cow outbreak in Britain that claimed about 140 human lives, the cattle industry stopped using ground-up cattle remains as feed, but the United States allowed loopholes.

It’s legal to put ground-up cattle remains in chicken feed and then sweep up any spillage, which has mixed with chicken waste, and use that in cattle feed.

Scientists say the mad cow protein can survive that process, and former FDA chief Mark McClellan said in January 2004 that the practice would be banned. But it wasn’t. Last July, McClellan’s successor, Lester Crawford, said he would convene an international panel to provide even tougher guidelines. To date no new standards have been announced, so the cattle feed loophole remains.

Why? The agency wouldn’t respond to an Associated Press reporter following up on the issue. Activists claim that the feds are making sure the industry has access to cheap feed. That’s plausible since the USDA’s other role is cheerleader. The same folks that tell us “Beef. It’s what’s for dinner” are charged with establishing safety guidelines.

Another unexplained government act was the quiet lifting of a ban on cattle from Canada, which is where the infected Washington state cow came from. Only an injunction issued by a Montana judge has kept the ban in place. This restriction was supported by USDA’s own scientists.

Plus, the feds have kept a Texas case under wraps. First, a suspected diseased cow tested negative; then it tested positive. A lab in England is conducting further tests.

If that cow is infected, the United States can no longer just pin the blame on Canadian practices.

If the government is guarding against an overreaction to mad-cow disease, that is understandable.

But when deeds don’t match words consumers have a right to be wary about what’s for dinner.