WASHINGTON (AP) – The government on Saturday permanently banned the slaughter of cows too sick or weak to stand on their own, seeking to further minimize the chance that mad cow disease could enter the food supply. The Agriculture Department proposed the ban last year after the biggest beef recall in U.S. history. The recall involved a Chino, Calif., slaughterhouse and “downer” cows. The Obama administration finalized the ban on Saturday. “As part of our commitment to public health, our Agriculture Department is closing a loophole in the system to ensure that diseased cows don’t find their way into the food supply,” President Barack Obama said in his weekly radio and video address.

Those kind of cows pose a higher risk of having mad cow disease. They also susceptible to infections from bacteria that cause food poisoning, such as E. coli, because the animals wallow in feces. The recall also raised concerns about the treatment of cattle and came after an investigator for the Humane Society of the United States videotaped workers abusing downer cows to force them to slaughter. A partial ban on downer cows was in place; it resulted from the nation’s first case of mad cow disease, in 2003.

Obama called the country’s food inspection system “a hazard to public health,” citing outbreaks of deadly food poisoning in peanuts this year, peppers and possibly tomatoes last year and spinach in 2006. He named his candidates for the top jobs at the Food and Drug Administration, which together with the Agriculture Department is responsible for much of the government’s food inspection.

This should have been done many years ago. I only hope Obama makes a wiser choice for the FDA than he has with his other appointments, I promise not to hold my breath.