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Meat Industry in a State of Uncertainty

24 December 2003

by Anai Rhoads
Veriana Media

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced Wednesday that Vern's Moses Lake Meat Company of Moses Lake, Washington, are voluntarily recalling approximately 10,410 pounds of raw beef that may have been exposed to Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), better known as Mad Cow Disease.

The beef was produced on 09 December 2003 and shipped to several establishments for further processing. For the sake of safety, the USDA decided to rid of any meat that was in possible contact with the infected cow.

Humans can get a form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) from eating beef products infected by BSE. All 137 people who died of vCJD in England were linked to eating bovine meat or to having received blood or tissue transplants from patients carrying the disease.

Both BSE and vCJD belong to a class of diseases called "Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies" (TSEs). So far, canines, rabbits and horses appear resistant to TSEs, but felines, deer, livestock cattle, and other animals are affected. The main known source of infection comes from the remains of infected sheep, which if fed to livestock can increase risk of infection to the animal.

BSE causes deterioration in the brain of the animal, which then leads to a slow and painful death. It surfaced in Britain in 1986 and it slowly spread through countries in Asia and Europe. The BSE epidemic in the United Kingdom reached its peak incidence in January 1993 at almost 1,000 new cases per week.[1]

Sparing no time, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan (largest market for U.S. beef overseas) announced that will refuse any shipment of beef originating from the United States. Not too long after, Mexico chimed in along with a dozen other countries to reject U.S. bovine meat.

Consumers who are interested in receiving updates can call toll-free number at 1-866-4USDACO. Consumers with other food safety questions can call the USDA Meat And Poultry Hotline at 1-888-MP-Hotline. The Hotline is available in English and in Spanish and can be reached from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday.

Reference:

[1] CDC - New Variant CJD: Fact Sheet

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