U.K. Lab Confirms Mad Cow Case in U.S.
British Lab Provides Confirmation of Case of Mad Cow Disease in U.S., Agriculture Officials Say

British lab provided initial independent confirmation Thursday that the United States has its first case of mad cow disease, U.S. agriculture officials said. Federal investigators labored to trace the path the infected animal took from birth to slaughter.

Scientists at the Veterinary Laboratories Agency in Weybridge, England, told the Agriculture Department they concur with the reading of tests on the stricken Holstein cow that led U.S. officials to conclude the animal had the brain-wasting disease, U.S. officials said.

"We are considering this confirmation," said USDA spokeswoman Alisa Harrison, adding that the English lab still will conduct its own test using another sample from the cow's brain. Final test results on the cow from Washington state were expected by the end of the week, she said.

Professor Steven Edwards, chief of the British lab, said those results already have been given to USDA. But Edwards refused to disclose whether the tests show that the animal had mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

Meanwhile, Harrison said, investigators were working through the holiday to prevent a potential outbreak of the deadly disease and to calm public fears about the food supply. Government officials have said there is no threat to the food supply because the cow's brain and spine nerve tissue where scientists say the disease is found were removed before it was sent on for processing...

U.S. Beef Banned by 15 Nations

Major American trading partners have banned U.S. beef since the government on Tuesday revealed the discovery of a case of mad cow disease in Washington state, threatening to seriously damage an industry that had been enjoying growing exports and the highest prices in years.

Japan is the largest export market for U.S. beef, followed by South Korea, Mexico and then Canada, according to USDA's economic-research service.

Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Russia, Egypt, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Colombia, Singapore, Thailand, Brazil, Malaysia, Australia, Chile and Ukraine have all banned U.S. beef imports, the U.S. Meat Export Federation said. The countries represent about 87 percent of volume and value for beef exports.

U.S. ranchers export about 10 percent of domestic production. Overseas sales were projected to reach $3.2 billion this year, Mr. Dierlam said. Industry and government officials want those markets reopened as soon as possible...

Some local stores pulling meat from shelves

PORTLAND - The state was lending a hand to federal investigators tracking down shipments of meat and byproducts from the first reported mad cow case in the nation while several grocery chains decided Wednesday to remove meat possibly linked to the animal with the disease.

Safeway Inc. has stopped selling all fresh ground beef products from an Oregon supplier that received meat from the affected cow, said spokeswoman Bridget Flanagan.

"We're doing this voluntarily out of an abundance of caution," Flanagan said.

Safeway, which has 120 grocery stores in Oregon and southwest Washington, will re-evaluate its meat-buying practices and look for another supplier, she said.

Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons also released a statement asking customers to voluntarily return ground beef packages with a sell-by-date of Dec. 25 bought at their Oregon, Washington and northern Idaho stores.

Representatives for Albertsons, Fred Meyer, Safeway and WinCo Foods all said their chains get ground beef from Interstate Meat Distributors in Clackamas - one of two Oregon-based distributors that received parts of the tainted cow. All four chains have voluntarily removed ground beef produce from the affected distributors...

Organic Beef Industry Expects More Sales

Organic beef producers predict the U.S. mad cow scare will boost demand for their meat, which comes from animals fed only milk, grasses and grains from birth to slaughter.

Mad cow disease, officially known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE, is believed to be spread through cattle feed containing protein or bone meal from infected cows or sheep. Although the government banned feeding cattle such products in 1997, organic food advocates say the law has loopholes and is poorly enforced.

U.S. organic beef standards, which took effect in October 2002, provide for certification of producers whose practices have passed muster with either a state or private inspector. The standards include an all-vegetable diet once the animal is weaned.

``We will now see a huge increase in the demand'' for organic beef, which currently accounts for no more than 1 percent of U.S. beef sales, predicted Ronnie Cummins, national director of the Organic Consumers Association, of Little Marais, Minn.

Nick Maravell, owner of Nick's Organic Farm, said he sold all the beef from his small, but growing, Black Angus herd in Adamstown, Md., almost immediately after the autumn slaughter. Maravell, vice chairman of the Maryland Organic Food and Farming Association, said he expects next year's crop of six animals to go just as fast...

Mad cow scare not seen as a boon by poultry, pork producers

New concerns about U.S. beef safety don't offer any glee to producers of pork and poultry - they figure Americans' concerns about one food can easily translate to suspicions about others.

"This is not good for chicken," said Bill Roenigk, an official with the National Chicken Council. "Consumers should be and are concerned about their food supply. Anything that jeopardizes consumer confidence in the food supply is not good for us."

But an even bigger issue for U.S. agriculture will be how deeply Americans' confidence is shaken in the safety of the overall meat supply.

"It's just anybody's guess," said Jon Caspers, president of the National Pork Producers Council and a hog farmer in Swaledale, Iowa. "Markets don't deal with these things very often. It is hard to predict."

Now, concerns about food safety could have a negative effect for all producers, said Mike Ovesen, executive director of the Kentucky Pork Producers...

Nevada suspends import of Washington cows

Nevada agriculture officials have suspended the importation of dairy cattle from Washington state as federal officials try to trace the history of the animal that tested positive for mad cow disease.

State veterinarian David Thain said the ban will remain in place until federal investigators determine where the infected cow was born and locate other animals from that herd.

``We will do whatever is necessary to protect Nevada's cattle industry,'' Thain said Wednesday.

``We just don't know how widespread it is at this time.''...

Many Watching How Mad Cow Policy Unfolds

The Bush administration's handling of the mad cow case - a delicate balance between protecting the health of consumers and of the beef cattle industry - is being closely watched in farm states crucial in a close presidential race.

The nation's Farm Belt with its rural, more conservative states is at the core of President Bush's electoral strength. But some farm states - like Iowa, Missouri and Wisconsin - are competitive swing states.

``Politicians are going to have to move very quickly,'' said political analyst Floyd Ciruli of Colorado, where beef cattle are a crucial part of the state's economy. ``The psychological and political implications get well ahead of what's actually happening.''

``We want the government to make science-based decisions, not decisions based on emotion and distortion,'' said Dee Likes, executive vice president of the Kansas Livestock Association. The beef cattle is the largest industry in Kansas, so any missteps by government officials could severely hurt the state's economy.

A top priority for the administration and the beef industry is to prevent widespread panic about the food supply, while determining whether the case is isolated.

``What you don't want is for it to grow into a major national crisis the way it did in Britain,'' said presidential scholar Charles Jones...

US mad cow scare may benefit NZ

New Zealand beef producers could reap increased exports to Asia in the wake of the mad cow disease scare in the United States, farmers predict.

But there are also fears of a temporary downturn in the US - the destination for nearly 60 per cent of New Zealand's $1.6 billion-a-year export beef market - as consumers turn off beef.

Federated Farmers meat and fibre chairman Ian Corney said yesterday that the clampdown on US beef by several Asian countries could prove a windfall for beef farmers in New Zealand, which remains free of BSE.

"There certainly will be an opportunity there. I wouldn't expect it will be a bonanza. It will be an opportunity we will be able to capitalise on. We don't like capitalising on other people's misfortune, but that's what makes the world go round."

Consumers might also switch from eating beef to lamb, he said...

U.S. beef entered Korean market without proper test procedures

Despite mounting fears over a potential outbreak of mad cow disease in Korea, U.S. beef has entered the nation without going through proper test procedures for the disease, a government official said yesterday.
Also, since no "country of origin" label is required on the meat sold in restaurants, experts fear some American meat may be misrepresented as Korean.

"We need to inspect each cow's brain tissue to discover mad cow disease to know whether the beef from the United States is infected or not. But we have followed the convention of not testing any imported beef for mad cow disease," an Agriculture Ministry official said.

"What we do is just check the cow-growing and processing system in the import markets."

Accordingly, some U.S. beef in Korea may carry the fatal disease, he explained...

Texans Say They Will Still Make Menudo

The menudo will still simmer and the barbacoa will still roast in the Rio Grande Valley, despite news that a cow may have contracted mad cow disease.

``It's a tradition. We just eat it twice a year,'' 55-year-old Rosa Morales said Wednesday as she selected spices to season the 20 pounds of frozen beef tripe she had just loaded into her shopping cart.

Morales said she was shopping for a friend who had misgivings about fat content but wasn't worried by reports that a U.S. cow may have had mad cow disease. One fear of mad cow is that humans can get variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob, an incurable disease, by eating tissue from infected animals--specifically from the brain and spinal cord.

Menudo, a spicy soup made from the lining of the cow's stomach, and barbacoa, made from the cow's head and brain, are the Mexican border version of the holiday Christmas ham.

Menudo is usually boiled in large pots for eight or more hours with red chilies, onions, garlic, and hominy.

Barbacoa is likewise made to feed crowds, with the meat traditionally wrapped in burlap bags with onions, garlic, and cilantro and roasted overnight in 2-foot deep holes in the back yard. It is typically served on Sundays...