Washington, DC  -  Congressmen Mike Rogers, Spencer Bachus, and Jo Bonner announced today the House Committee on Appropriations passed a bill that includes $450,000 to help further secure Alabama’s beef supply from an outbreak of BSE, or Mad Cow Disease.

Rogers, Bachus, and Bonner helped earmark the funds for the Alabama Beef Connection (ABC), a statewide program that utilizes electronic identification technology on livestock to track individual animals as might be required. The funds appear in the Fiscal Year 2005 Agriculture Department Appropriations Bill.

“We must continue to ensure the safety of our food supply,” Rogers said. “This funding is good news for Alabama cattle producers and beef consumers, and should help our state’s beef industry coordinate and track any infected cattle should one of these cases arise.”

“This funding is good insurance for everyone in Alabama with an interest in the beef industry,” Bonner said.  “The single, isolated incident involving ‘Mad Cow Disease’ that occurred late last year in a very distant area bordering Canada has reminded government officials, cattle producers, and all Americans of the need for our cattle farmers - especially those here in Alabama - to have the safeguards and technology in place to keep our food supply as safe now as it always has been.”

Currently, Alabama provides over 350,000 beef cattle annually to the food supply of the United States. With 27,000 cattle producers shipping these cattle to feedlots in over 30 states, the Alabama Beef Connection promises to be an important step in keeping the food supply safe while becoming a marketing plus for Alabama beef producers.

Rogers said the bill must still be approved by both the House of Representatives and the Senate, and then pass both chambers in the bill’s Conference Report.