Bizarro USDA Bans Testing for Mad Cow

“He’s reliable. He’s considerate. He’s like your exact opposite.”
“So he’s Bizarro Jerry.”
“Bizarro Jerry?”
“Yeah, like Bizarro Superman, Superman’s exact opposite, who lives in the backwards Bizarro world. Up is down, down is up, he says hello when he leaves, goodbye when he arrives.”
“Shouldn’t he say badbye? Isn’t that the opposite of goodbye?”
“No, it’s still goodbye.”
“Does he live underwater?”
“No.”
“Is he black?”
“Look, just forget the whole thing.”

–Elaine and Jerry, Seinfeld, “The Bizarro Jerry”

In the wake of the recent battle over the Korean free trade agreement because of crazy fears of U.S. beef contamination, the USDA has prevented a private farm from testing its own cows for mad cow disease. Granted, worries about mad cow are way overblown and we certainly don’t want such irrationality holding up a free trade deal. But the USDA banning private inspections sends exactly the wrong message. It makes the government look scared of our beef – too scared to even check if it’s contaminated.

What kind of bizarro world is it when the USDA, rather than ensuring that our meat is safe, prevents us from ensuring that our meat is safe? What’s next, the USDA banning us washing our strawberries?