MAD COW HITS CLOSE TO HOME

ROSEANNE HARPER

When mad cow disease hit just across the border in Canada on May 20, it was the embargo slammed down on Canadian beef imports -- not fear of the disease -- that affected retail sales. Canada normally supplies about 7% of feedlot cattle and calves in the United States, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's overnight cut-off of imports, coupled with other factors, drove prices up all along the supply line.

"A number of things have had an effect on the beef market, but the increases in costs to us definitely have affected the amount of product we've sold," said Frank Vitale, director of meat operations at Roche Bros. Supermarkets, Wellesley Hills, Mass.

The industry was prepared to alleviate fears about the brain-wasting disease, bovine spongiform enchephalopathy, through ongoing educational programs of such organizations as the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, as well as educational efforts by USDA, industry sources.

"In our dealings with retailers, there's been no concern [over the safety of U.S. beef] at all," said Randy Irion, director of retail marketing services at the Denver-based NCBA.

Irion told SN that ever since BSE was first discovered in Europe in the mid-1980s, NCBA has been working with USDA to eliminate outbreaks in this country. A "triple firewall" defense here includes an import ban on animals from certain countries, a ban of the use of spinal cord tissue in animal feed and ongoing surveillance.

"We think [record demand for beef] is quite a message, a testament to consumers' confidence in the safety and wholesomeness of our U.S. beef supply," Irion said.

A positive attitude exhibited by the consumer press has helped, too, SN's sources said.

"There's been so much media attention to the protective measures we take in this country and to the new technologies available [that help] in that regard," said Dan Murphy, vice president of public affairs, American Meat Institute, Washington.