Yahoo! News - USDA Won't Allow Independent Testing for Mad Cow: "The USDA rejected a request by Creekstone Farms Premium Beef to allow 100 percent testing for the brain-wasting disease, a step the privately owned company deemed necessary to resume trade with Japan.

'The use of the test as proposed by Creekstone would have implied a consumer safety aspect that is not scientifically warranted,' said USDA Undersecretary Bill Hawks in a statement."