March 14, 2006

US food industry unfazed by mad cow as search expands
 

The US food industry remains optimistic that the latest discovery of mad cow disease in an Alabama farm will not hurt consumers' appetite for beef as regulators scrambled to find other cows that could have been similarly infected.

John Clifford, chief veterinarian of the US Department of Agriculture, had said that the cow was probably about 10 years old when she was euthanised by a local veterinarian on the Alabama farm where she had resided for less than one year.

The cow's relative advanced age is important because it indicates she was likely infected before changes were made to animal-feed rules. Thus, it allows the Bush administration to continue to argue to US consumers, as well as to foreign buyers of US beef, that the prevalence of mad-cow disease in the US is very faint, and most likely fading.

Food-industry officials yesterday said the most recent discovery probably is not enough to spook consumers about the safety of US beef, although some beef-related stocks slipped in trading yesterday.

Bob Bertini, spokesman for Wendy's International Inc., said the hamburger chain do not see an impact as a result of the latest case. Other food companies expressed the same sentiment.

Still, the discovery is likely to invigorate consumer activists critical of the Bush administration's plans to scale back its mad-cow surveillance program, and to hamstring efforts by the US to persuade Japan to reopen their borders to US beef. Before the first US case was discovered in December 2003, the US exported about 10 percent of its beef, or about US$3 billion worth of beef products annually.

Regulators now must try to locate other cattle that might have shared the rations of the Alabama cow over years, and so might be carrying the disease.

Based on previous experience, it is far from clear that the government will find all of the cow's companions. The US does not have a national identification system for cattle of the sort used in places such as Canada, and efforts to create one have been slow to take form.

The search could easily involve hundreds and perhaps thousands of cattle -- many of which have probably already been eaten.