Will Mad Cow Disease Come To the U.S.?

On this year's Memorial Day weekend, which for Americans is one of the great celebrations of patriotism, replete with parades, ceremonies, and barbecue, barbecue and more barbecue. Many of us have the threat of Mad Cow Disease on our mind.

And for good reason. Mad Cow is one of those issues and potential nightmares that continues to haunt us since the day we shared the stage with that "Mad Cowboy", Howard Lyman, on Oprah and he brought the issue mainstream.

The Canadian Beef Export Federation late last week revealed that a single case of mad cow disease has been detected in the province of Alberta, based on a test given to an eight-year-old cow last January. But it's NOT that simple.

Dr. Claude Lavigne, one of the top officials at Canada's animal products directorate, revealed that while Canadian veterinarians took samples of the infected cow on January 31, 2003 the samples were not tested for close to four months. One of the other major problems is that becuase of NAFTA, Canadian beef has free access to U.S. supermarkets and the imported product does not have to be labeled as such on retail packages. Further adding credence for the Country of Origin Labeling Bill which is due to be implemented by 2004, but has come under severe critisism by food companies and trade groups.

Soon to be followed by others, Louisiana is the first and only state so far to order stores and restaurants to stop selling Canadian beef products. Agriculture Commissioner, Bob Odom, is giving businessess until May 27th to comply with the request. All beef products - raw, processed, and canned - that arrived from Canada after January 31st must be taken out of ciruclation.

The entire herd has now been impounded, according to the report, because of concerns that more could have bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease. The government says that the infected animal was not processed and the herd to which it belonged will be immediately slaughtered.

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The discovery was perceived as a blow to the Canadian economy, coming as it does just weeks after the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) threat virtually shut down Toronto to tourists, and to the province of Alberta, which is described as being Texas-like in its cultural devotion to and reliance on cattle ranching. About 5.5 million cattle can be found in Alberta, outnumbering people by almost 2-1.

Canada is the world's third largest beef exporter, and more than a half-million head of cattle were shipped from Alberta to the United States last year, raising the possibility, at least, that a mad cow-infected animal may currently be in the US. The Canadian discovery triggered an immediate ban in the US on Canadian beef imports, including Canadian cattle, sheep, goats, and processed meats. There also was a sell-off of cattle futures, and the share price of stocks such as McDonald's and Tyson dropped several percentage points.

More than 80 people in Britain and Europe have died from the human variation of mad cow disease, which is contracted by eating an infected animal.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) described the threat of transmitting the disease to animals in the United States as very low, and USDA Secretary Ann Veneman told CNN, "I intend to eat a steak tonight."

Canada's only other case of mad cow disease was in 1993, a case in which the cow was imported from Britain. Canadian officials have not said if they know where this new infected cow came from.

Supermarket chains seem to be doing what they can to deal with the potential crisis.

Terry Donilon, a spokesman for Shaw's Supermarkets Inc., told the Boston Globe, ''We've undertaken a review of all our beef products and had extensive checks with our major suppliers. All our beef comes from the United States, but we're going to dot all our i's and cross all our t's and check our secondary meat sources as well,'' such as soups and spaghetti sauces containing beef. Shaw's set up a toll-free hot line for shoppers, 1-888-431-7429.

Faith Weiner, a spokeswoman for Stop & Shop Supermarket Co., told the Boston Globe that ''we are doing our due diligence and investigating this issue just like everyone else. We would never do anything that would put our customers in harm's way.''

Both Shaw's and Stop & Shop said they had no sense of the consumer reaction to this point, and had no evidence of any tainted beef being sold in their stores.

The potentially bad news for the meat industry comes in the same week that there were reports that just in time for Memorial Day weekend, consumers would start seeing higher beef prices in supermarkets because of record high wholesale beef costs, linked to fewer cattle available for slaughter.

Ironically, it also occurs as the National Cattlemen's Beef Association launched a new, $1.7 million advertising campaign that stresses the health benefits of lean beef. The campaign compares beef to chicken while at the same time using tactics that were developed by the poultry industry. (Though the chicken industry is crying foul, saying that the campaign pushes beef in general, not just lean beef that is lower in saturated fat.)

Ultimately, it is up to all of us as consumers to pay attention to this developing story, understanding exactly what meat products may and may not be involved. The likelihood that there will be an outbreak of the human variation of mad cow disease seems to be miniscule at the moment, especially because it appears that the government and the food industry are at high alert.

For more information go to www.madcowboy.com.