June 24, 2005

Purdue ag economist: Mad cow may ground beef export efforts

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The U.S. Department of Agriculture has confirmed that the inconclusive bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) test first reported on Nov. 18 was, in fact, a positive.

The sample had been forwarded to the Veterinary Laboratories Agency in Weybridge, England, after additional testing showed a "weak positive" for BSE. The agency confirmed the positive.

Chris Hurt, a Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service ag economist said the test results may put in a damper on beef exports, which had shown signs of picking up.

"I don't think this will have major financial implications, but it may delay our efforts to begin exports to Japan and other countries," he said. "Consumers should know there are very few animals with the disease and that precautions in processing are being taken to keep any potentially harmful parts of the meat out of the human food supply.

"The Japanese will continue to argue for testing of every animal. U.S. government officials have recently put increased pressure on Japan to open their markets to U.S. beef. Now, with the confusion created by this most recent case, the Japanese will likely, at least for now, stand firm on their testing demands."

Hurt said the testing program currently in place in the United States was implemented to actually seek out cases of BSE, also known as mad cow disease.

"It's a needle in the haystack kind of concept," he said. "The program was designed so if we had five animals in the entire U.S. herd that had BSE, we would be able to identify at least one of them."

Since last June, 388,000 cattle have been tested. The United States has processed 33 million cattle during the same time frame.

Even veterinarians and rendering companies are participating in the testing program, Hurt said. They are seeking animals that exhibit symptoms of the disease and sending in samples for testing.

"There are much greater human health risks out there such as salmonella and E. coli," Hurt said. "After the first cow, we didn't know if this was something extremely rare or not. Even after finding a second animal with BSE, we can still say it's extremely rare."

BSE is a chronic degenerative disorder that affects the central nervous system of cattle.

CONTACT: Chris Hurt, (765) 494-4273 (office), (765) 463-7559 (home), hurtc@purdue.edu

Writer: Kay Hagen, (765) 494-6682, kjh@purdue.edu

Ag Communications: (765) 494-2722;
Beth Forbes, forbes@purdue.edu
Agriculture News Page

Related Web site:
Purdue Mad Cow page

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