Recall of mad cow beef expands to four more states

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said yesterday that meat from a cow infected with mad cow disease was sent to four additional states and Guam.

The disclosure roughly doubles the area in the West where the meat is being recalled.

Agriculture Department officials also said they are considering changing their screening procedures for other infected cattle.

Japan, the top importer of American beef, and more than two dozen other countries have stopped U.S. beef imports. Jordan joined the list yesterday. U.S. beef-industry officials estimated this week that they have lost 90 percent of their export market. Ranchers export 10 percent of the beef they produce.

U.S. agriculture officials arrived yesterday in Japan to discuss maintaining beef trade.

Dr. Kenneth Petersen, an Agriculture Department veterinarian, said, “The recalled beef represents an essentially zero risk to consumers.”

USDA investigators said some of the meat from the cow slaughtered Dec. 9 went to Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana and Guam. Earlier, they said most of the meat went to Washington and Oregon, with lesser amounts to California and Nevada, for distribution to consumers.

Dr. Petersen said the cattle parts most likely to carry infection — the brain, spinal cord and lower intestine — were removed at a slaughterhouse in the state of Washington before the meat was processed for human consumption.

Most of the meat from the infected cow has been located and recalled, he said.

Dr. Petersen would not rule out the concern that some of the meat might have been eaten by grocery store customers.

A spot check of grocery stores in the D.C. area showed no drop in beef sales.

“Sales are pretty good,” said a meat department worker at one grocery store chain, who asked not to be named. He said “one or two” customers asked about mad cow disease, but their buying habits so far are unchanged.

No meat suspected of being infected with mad cow disease is known to have entered the Eastern United States.

The USDA recalled about 10,000 pounds of meat from the infected cow and from 19 other cows slaughtered Dec. 9 at Vern’s Moses Lake Meat Co., in Moses Lake, Wash.

Story Continues →