The United States has reported its first case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or mad cow disease. The animal, a Holstein cow was diagnosed as having mad cow disease on December 23.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the cow on a dairy farm in Washington state became paralyzed following the birth of a calf, its third. One calf died at birth, the second, a bull, is now on a nearby farm in Washington, and the third is on the farm where the cow was part of a dairy herd. Both farms have been quarantined.
On December 2, the brains, spinal cord and other parts of the cow were removed for testing, but it was not until December 23 that the official findings were announced. Shortly after the cow was killed for testing, its carcass was sent to a packer where the meat was ground for hamburgers and sent into the food chain.
The day that the announcement came concerning the first case of mad cow disease in the U.S., Japan, South Korea and Taiwan stopped all imports of beef products from the U.S. Mexico joined the ban the next day. These four countries account for more than 90 percent of the U.S. beef exports worth about $6 billion. Since then, another dozen countries have banned U.S. beef imports.
Following the December 23 announcement, the USDA sent samples of the animal to the Veterinary Laboratories Agency in Weybridge, England for further testing. On December 26 the laboratory confirmed that the cow did, indeed, have mad cow disease.
Following the original announcement on December 23, the Food and Drug Administration began searching in three directions for the cause of the disease and to find out where the meat from the cow was sent.
The meat, it was discovered, went into the food chain shortly after the animal was killed and the packer recalled some 10,000 pounds of beef from known retailers in several adjacent states as well as Hawaii and Guam. Although it is expected that some of the beef has been consumed, the Food and Drug Administration assured the consuming public that all beef products were safe since the brain, spinal cord and intestines, the possible sources of contamination, had been removed from the animal. Further assurances were given to consumers in that meat cuts are labelled and that muscle cuts. For example, it was claimed that certain meat cuts are fairly safe from infection, cuts such as whole cuts without bones, steaks, liver and ground beef from labelled cuts as chuck or round.
The second search was into the feed used for the animals on the farm. It is known that in England during its extensive battle with BSE, animals had been fed with by-products of slain cows used in the feed to increase the protein proportion. The U.S. has banned the importation of such feed since the middle 1990s. However, it was discovered that one feed supplier in the U.S. had supplied feed with animal parts for a very brief period. Whether this feed was offered to the contaminated cow is unsure.
It was also learned that the cow was actually over seven years old, and not the four years the dairy farmer claimed. The third search was to find the parentage of the contaminated cow. Unfortunately, U.S. farmers do not keep extensive records on such sales. It was confirmed in late December that the contaminated cow in Washington state was part of a 74-animal herd that had been brought in from Canada early in 2001. The ranch from which the cows came was not too far from the farm on which Canada found its only case of mad cow disease in May of 2003. As of January 2, 2004, the source of the infection of the cow in Canada has not been identified.
The government is now searching for the 73 other cows from the herd imported from Canada. It was noted that the incubation period for BSE can be as long as five years, and that most of the cows from the Canadian herd may still be alive. It was emphasised by USDA officials that even though the sick cow came from that herd, it does not necessarily mean that any of the other cows are sick.
In the financial market, repercussions were felt between Christmas and New Years when the stock of McDonald’s, Wendy’s and other chains featuring beef, fell. Beef futures on the Chicago market virtually stopped because no one was buying, restaurant stocks fell and beef exports were virtually halted.
McDonald’s stock dropped $1.32 to close at $23.96 on short trading on Christmas Eve. Wendy’s dropped $1.87 to $37.79, and the Outback Steak House dropped $2.23 to close at $42.40. Around the world it is said that 153 people have been reported to have contracted variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
