Governor Urges State Role in Checking Cattle

Montana’s governor, who has fought the importation of young Canadian cattle, said that states needed to oversee federal inspectors of Canadian beef because the Department of Agriculture was acting in the interest of beef companies rather than consumers.

“A few years ago, the four big meat companies, they expanded their role in this country,” Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer said. “They bought a U.S. company called the United States Department of Agriculture.”

Schweitzer, a Democrat in a majority Republican state, has led a state fight against imports of Canadian cattle younger than 30 months since a federal appeals court lifted a two-year ban on Canadian cattle in July.