Scramble to recover mad cow meat

INVESTIGATORS and retailers in eight states and a territory are scrambling to recover meat that may have come from a Holstein stricken with deadly mad cow disease.

Meanwhile, Agriculture Department officials maintain there is no health risk to consumers.

Dr Ron De Haven, chief veterinary officer at the USDA, reiterated that point yesterday.

"We know from scientific research" that the agent that causes the disease "does not go into muscle tissue or the meat cuts but resides primarily in the central nervous system, the brain and the spinal cord," he said.

DeHaven described the danger as "certainly minuscule risk, if any risk at all."

"We're, again, taking this action out of an abundance of precaution and not out of any real risk to the public safety," he said.

Dr Kenneth Petersen, a department veterinarian, said on Sunday that an investigation revealed meat from the infected dairy cow could have reached retail markets in Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho and Montana and the territory of Guam more locations than originally thought.

Officials had said earlier that most of the meat went to Washington and Oregon, with lesser amounts to California and Nevada, for retail sale.

"The recalled meat represents essentially zero risk to consumers," said Dr Petersen.

He said parts most likely to carry infection the brain, spinal cord and lower intestine were removed before the meat from the infected cow was cut and processed for human consumption.

Despite their assurances of food safety, federal officials have taken the precaution of recalling 10,000 pounds of meat from the infected cow and from 19 other cows slaughtered December 9 at Vern's Moses Lake Meat, in Moses Lake, Washington.

DeHaven said yesterday that there are no plans to expand the recall.