SUPERMARKETGURU FOOD &
HEALTH WEEKLY NEWSFLASH!
Mad Cows, Confused Consumers
Published on: May 31, 2003Even as there seem to be no sure answers to an enormous number of questions out the occurrence of mad cow disease in Canada, negotiations reportedly have begun between the US and the Canadian government about relaxing the current ban on Canadian beef imports by US companies.
The discussions take place in the shadow of efforts by Canadian officials to ascertain the origins of the animal that was discovered to have bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, commonly known as mad cow disease.
Canadian officials are hoping that the US will decide to at least relax restrictions, allowing some beef products cross the border, such as that made from younger animals that could not have contracted the disease from the infected cow.
The Canadian Beef Export Federation late last week revealed that a single case of mad cow disease has been detected in the province of Alberta, based on a test given to an eight-year-old cow last January. But the level of confusion that seems to exist is reflected in the fact that this week officials announced that it was actually a six-year-old cow.
The current status of the mad cow investigation is:
Mad cow disease is believed to spread through cow feed made with protein and bone meal made from mammals. The human form of BSE is the fatal brain-wasting illness variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. More than 80 people in Britain and Europe have died from the human variation of mad cow disease, which is contracted by eating an infected animal.
Last year, Canada sold $1.3 billion worth of beef and beef products to the United States, products that have free access to US markets because of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
In the US, Louisiana is so far the only state so far to order stores and restaurants to stop selling Canadian beef products.
The seeming confusion and delays in tracing the origins and movements of the infected cow are a prime illustration of how far we have to go as a culture in making all food products traceable, and to be vigilant in regular and early testing.
The traceability issue is particularly important because Country Of Origin Labeling (COOL) legislation is currently before the US Congress, and is opposed by numerous food industry organizations -- a foolish and shortsighted position, in our opinion. COOL laws would, in this case, make Canadian beef utterly transparent to American consumers and business. There is no downside to such an approach.
It still seems outrageous that while Canadian veterinarians took samples of the infected cow on January 31, 2003 the samples were not tested for close to four months. And now, a week later, cows are still being slaughtered and tested but there are no firm answers about the cow's origins.
In Ireland, where mad cow disease was an issue several years ago, one Dublin supermarket chain called Superquinn actually has created its own traceability program, mandating that DNA tests be done on every beef product sold in its stores, with the results kept on file at Trinity University; if there ever is a problem with any meat, it can instantly be traced to the source cow, and to the farm where the cow originated.
That kind of approach, seen in the light of the current Canadian confusion, seems both enlightened and necessary. We only hope it does not take an outbreak of mad cow disease in the US and the deaths of unwitting citizens to force government and industry to do what is right.
