The Badger Herald: News: Mad-cow disease hits both local, national levels

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Mad-cow disease hits both local, national levels

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Also by Abby Peterson:

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Monday, January 19, 2004 12:00 a.m.

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Although current testing procedures are keeping Wisconsin’s beef safe from mad-cow disease, state agricultural experts have said the healthiness of the state’s beef market remains uncertain due to consumer unease with meat safety.

Officials said the discovery of mad-cow disease in the state of Washington last month does not mean all U.S. beef is unsafe. Rather, they say it demonstrates that safety procedures are sufficiently tracking the disease and moving quickly to prevent its spread.

“When we find a case, that’s evidence that the system is working. It’s doing precisely what it was intended to do,” Rod Nilsestuen, Secretary of the Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection Department of Wisconsin, said in a press release.

“When the positive test results came back, USDA moved quickly and decisively to quarantine facilities and find any other herds the animal might have been in. They were ready for this.”

The safety of Wisconsin’s beef was questioned when officials discovered that since 1998, nearly 1,000 cows from Alberta, Canada, had been imported into the state, and the Washington dairy cow infected with mad-cow disease was also from Alberta. As of yet, no Wisconsin cattle have tested positively for mad cow.

Despite the recent scare, state officials remain confident that current USDA regulations are sufficiently protecting Wisconsin’s beef. Every year, nearly 3,000 of the 1.5 million cows slaughtered annually in Wisconsin are tested, meaning the state is testing 40 percent above standards set by the World Organization for Animal Health. The USDA also initiated new guidelines banning the use of downer cows, the type of cattle infected with mad-cow disease in Washington.

Although the safety of state beef is always a concern, many agricultural officials remain more preoccupied with the threat of a possible tumble in state beef and dairy sales.

“We have a lot to lose, from the twin possibilities of lost export markets and declining beef prices,” Nilsestuen said in the release. “In addition to our dairy and beef producers, Wisconsin is home to two of the nation’s largest meatpacking plants.”

The recent mad-cow scare knocked down beef prices 15 to 20 percent per pound. More than 24 nations banned U.S. beef last month, leaving nearly 10 percent of U.S. beef without a market.

Those beef producers relying on downer cattle for the majority of this year’s revenue have been left without a steady source of income.

Keeping strong consumer confidence in meat safety is the most important part of maintaining high beef sales, John Frietag, executive director of the Wisconsin Beef Council, said. Frietag claims the public has every reason to remain confident about beef safety if it relies on scientific facts instead of succumbing to unfounded fears.

“I’m not sure there is something else we could do to make our food any safer. Our food-safety system is far superior to anywhere in the world,” he said.

Frietag believes avoiding eating beef is an illogical reaction to the mad-cow scares. Any risks from beef consumption are minimal compared to other dangers Americans face daily.

“We take more chances going to work or flying in an airplane than eating beef,” he said.