NEW YORK -- Almost daily media coverage of mad cow disease is catching the ear of the shopping public, and retailers in turn have sought safety assurances from the beef industry, sources told SN.
Consumers "want to get some sense of what we might be doing to protect them so that the effects of mad cow cannot invade their homes," said Bill Dowdall, president of Federal Market Co., a 13-store chain of specialty meat stores in suburban Buffalo, N.Y.
SN talked to consumers in Arkansas about the issue, and their responses in "How Now Mad Cow," can be found on page 12 of this issue.
"We try to tell them we're going through the best channels possible to get our meats," Dowdall added.
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, the medical name for mad cow disease, has all but paralyzed Europe's beef industry and beef companies operating there. Meanwhile, federal regulators have increased inspections of feed processors stateside, and have met with the industry to ensure manufacturers are complying with 1997 rules designed to prevent outbreaks of BSE here.
"I've only had a couple of customers ask me about it," said Jack Gridley, the meat and seafood buyer for Dorothy Lane Markets, Dayton, Ohio. "I feel very fortunate on that issue."
Joanie Taylor, director of consumer affairs for St. Louis-based Schnuck Markets, said the company received one call a couple of months ago from a consumer, but that's been the extent of public reaction.
"In a way I'm surprised, and in a way I'm not," she said. "In our market, our customers have been exceptionally confident in the ability of our government to ensure a safe food supply and this is further evidence of that. I think they've learned how to discern what to be concerned about."
Nevertheless, the relative silence hasn't kept retailers and consumers alike from making numerous phone inquiries at the offices of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, Greenwood Village, Colo.
"We've received a fair amount of calls regarding the subject," said Steve Wald, director of retail marketing for the NCBA. "Most want to know the scope and extent of the situation to settle any fears they may have.
"Most people realize there isn't a situation here, but there's concern about the potential for it," he said. "We've been proactive from the retail standpoint. We've sent as much information as possible to the retail trade to educate them on the situation with BSE."
The NCBA late last month launched a Web site, bseinfo.org, to provide the public with a source of current information.
The disease caught the attention of Americans when it was reported last month that a herd of more than 1,000 cattle in Texas had consumed feed containing meat and bone meal banned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1997. Test results showed "a very low level" of banned material in the feed, the FDA announced.
Mad cow has caused a panic throughout Europe, and continues to take an exorbitant toll on the beef industry there. More than 80 people have died from the human variant of the brain-wasting disease. Even the world's largest burger chain, McDonald's, Oakbrook, Ill., reported a 7% drop in fourth-quarter earnings in Europe.
