NATION Mad cow causes 8 to ban beef

WASHINGTON (AP) -- From consumers to beef producers, Americans braced for the fallout from the apparent discovery of mad cow disease in the United States even as federal officials insisted the food supply was safe.
The impact was evident almost immediately: Eight nations, including Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, halted U.S. beef imports just hours after the Agriculture Department announced Tuesday that a so-called downed cow, meaning it was unable to move on its own, had tested positive for the brain-wasting disease.
Japan is the largest overseas market for U.S. beef.
The cow, from a farm near Yakima, Wash., was slaughtered Dec. 9. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said parts of the animal went to three processing plants in Washington State. But she said there was no danger to the food supply because "muscle cuts of meat have almost no risk."
Tests of tissue samples from the cow are being conducted in Britain to confirm the mad cow finding by a U.S. lab.
Allaying fears
Agriculture Department officials and cattle industry executives tried to allay fears that American beef supplies had become infected, saying the U.S. inspection system was working effectively: The farm where the cow originated has been quarantined and officials were tracing the movement of the cow from the farm to the slaughterhouse, and the flow of the meat to processing plants.
"The important point is that the high-risk materials -- that is, the brain and spinal column that would cause infectivity in humans -- were removed from this cow," Veneman said on ABC's "Good Morning America" today.
She noted that since the early 1990s the United States has banned the use of cow and sheep byproducts for animal feed, which cuts off a major mode of transmission of the disease.
"We are in an abundance of caution," Veneman told NBC's "Today" show.
Meat recalled
USDA officials announced early today that Vern's Moses Lake Meat Co. in Moses Lake, Wash., is voluntarily recalling approximately 10,410 pounds of raw beef that may have been exposed to tissues containing mad cow disease. They said the beef was produced on Dec. 9 and shipped to several establishments for further processing and is being recalled "out of an abundance of caution" even though it "would not be expected to be infected or have an adverse public health impact."
The department's Food Safety and Inspection Service said it is continuing its investigation to ensure that all the recalled beef is correctly identified and tracked, but it gave no further details immediately.
There was no answer at the telephone number listed for Vern's Moses Lake Meat Co. after the recall, which was announced early today.
Veneman also assured Americans that no foul play was suspected, saying "this incident is not terrorist-related." Appearing on CBS' "The Early Show," Veneman asserted, "The risk is extremely low to human health, and I would without hesitation say that no one should be afraid to eat beef."
Disease details
Mad cow disease 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.
People can contract a form of mad cow disease if they eat infected beef or nerve tissue, and possibly through blood transfusions. The human form of mad cow disease so far has killed 143 people in Britain and 10 elsewhere, none in the United States.
Veneman said the risk to human health in this U.S. case was "extremely low."
Nonetheless, U.S. beef producers worried that they could suffer heavily from a mad cow scare. Restaurants that serve beef also could be affected.
"I think it has the potential to hurt our industry," said Jim Olson, a rancher in Stanfield, Ariz., who owns about 150 cattle.
Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports magazine, called on the government to test more cows for the disease, formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
"The U.S. needs to be far more proactive in protecting the American food supply," said Michael Hansen, a senior research associate. "We are very concerned that the diseased animal made it into the food supply and that the processing plants could be contaminated."
Washington farm
The disease was found in a Holstein cow, which could not move on its own, from a farm in Mabton, Wash., about 40 miles southeast of Yakima. Tissue samples were taken on Dec. 9, and eventually tested positive for the disease. 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 -- standard operating procedure in this country.
Samples from the cow were sent to Britain for confirmation of the preliminary mad cow finding, Veneman said. The results will be known in three to five days, she added. Consumers can get daily updates by reading the department's Web site or by calling (866) 4USDACO.