Mad Cow Update
By George Anderson
Meat from the dairy cow found last week with bovine spongiform encephalopathy
(BSE), also known as Mad Cow Disease, has been distributed to eight states in
the western U.S. and Guam, according to a report in the Washington Post.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reports it has receive calls from
about 100 consumers who claimed they’ve eaten some of the recalled meat.
Daniel Puzo, a USDA spokesperson said, “The calls started coming on the 24th
of December, after the recall was announced, and they are still coming in.”
Most of the consumers reporting they’ve eaten the meat are from the states
of Oregon and Washington.
Supermarket chains in Washington including Albertsons, Fred Meyer and Quality
Food Centers have removed recalled meat from store shelves. Grocery stores in
other states have also pulled product.
April Demert, a spokesperson for the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service,
said the recall effort was progressing.
“We don’t expect or anticipate any problems at all in getting cooperation for
a recall,” she said. “Everybody is acting with an abundance of caution in this
case.”
Eating neural tissue from cattle affected with BSE is thought to cause Creutzfeldt-Jakob
Disease in humans.
Moderator’s Comment: What are your thoughts on the
developments in the case of the BSE infected cow in Washington?
Reports the slaughtered cow with BSE came from Canadian
livestock has many in the industry hoping this situation will pass quickly with
little concern on the part of consumers.
For the most part, it appears as though consumers around
the U.S. are going about in a business as usual manner when it comes to eating
beef. That has not appeared to have any impact on the decision by foreign governments
to cutoff imports of U.S. beef. [George
Anderson – Moderator]