Mad cow disease scare hits US beef

Japan and South Korea banned US beef imports today following an announcement that a recently slaughtered cow had tested for positive for BSE.

The discovery in an animal from a Washington state farm marks the first suspected appearance of so-called “mad cow disease” in the US.

The US government assured Americans yesterday that their food is safe.

Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said the slaughtered cow was screened earlier this month and any diseased parts were removed before they could enter the food supply and infect humans.

Fear of the disease has brought economic ruin on beef industries in Europe and Canada.

“We remain confident in the safety of our food supply,” Ms Veneman told a hastily convened news conference in Washington.

Still, Japan and South Korea banned imports of US beef, providing an early indication of the potential economic damage the discovery could cause.

Japan is the largest overseas market on value terms for US beef. Exports totalled $842m (€678.6m) in 2002, accounting for 32% of the market, according to the US Meat Export Federation. .

Japan’s Agriculture Ministry said the ban applied to beef and beef products and took effect immediately.

“Until its safety can be confirmed, we decided to ban US beef imports for the time being starting today,” said Yasuo Fukuda, the Japanese government’s top spokesman. “We plan to recall meat products that might contain bits from cattle brains and spinal cords.”

The farm near Yakima, Washington, where the cow originated, has been quarantined as officials trace how the animal contracted the disease and where its meat went.

“Even though the risk to human health is minimal, we will take all appropriate actions out of an abundance of caution,” Ms Veneman said.

BSE, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, eats holes in the brains of cattle. It sprang up in Britain in 1986 and spread through countries in Europe and Asia, prompting massive destruction of herds and decimating the European beef industry.

Scientists believe a human version of the disease, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), comes from beef or nerve tissue infected with with BSE, and possibly through blood transfusions.

In Britain, at least 143 people have died after contracting vCJD.

Wary of the potential economic impact on their market, US beef producers quickly sought to reassure consumers that infected meat would not reach their tables.

“There is no risk to consumers based upon the product that came from this animal,” said Terry Stokes, chief executive of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.

Washington is keenly aware that a case of mad cow disease in Canada last May - which officials described as a single, isolated incident – still had devastating economic consequences.

Ms Veneman said the Holstein cow tested preliminarily positive for the brain-wasting illness on December 9. Parts of the cow that would be infected - the brain, the spinal cord and the lower part of the small intestine – were removed before the animal went to a meat processing plant.

Samples from the cow have been sent to Britain for confirmation of the preliminary finding, Ms Veneman said. The results will be known in three to five days.

The US Agriculture Department has had safeguards in place since 1990 to check for mad cow disease and 20,526 cows had been tested this year.

“This is a clear indication that our surveillance and detection programme is working,” Ms Veneman said.

“We see no reason for people to alter their eating habits.”

But in an echo of a 1990 incident during Britain’s BSE crisis when then Conservative agriculture minister John Gummer gathered the media to witness him sharing a hamburger with his young daughter, Ms Veneman added: “I plan to serve beef for my Christmas dinner.”