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Feb 20, 2008 5:51 pm US/Mountain
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CSU Expert Says Meat Supply Is Safe
Good Question: What are the risks?
FORT COLLINS, Colo. (CBS4) ―
Parents in Colorado are worried about this week's beef recall announcement.
"You know, honestly, I don't know what to think," said one mom who's son got sick after eating school lunches three times over the past year.
Of course, no one can blame the lunches for sure. The fact that her son got sick is anecdotal and she knows it. And no one one can say that it had anything to do with the 143 million pounds of beef recalled this week in the largest recall in U.S. history.
But.
There is a but there.
"I don't think that that's the only meat processing plant with that problem," said another mother who packs her children's lunches.
Some are skeptical of the government's claims that the risks are low.
The director of Colorado State University's Animal Population Health Institute does believe the U.S. Department of Agriculture is correct.
"I think they're trying to do two things: One, to reassure the public the food supply is absolutely safe. Also, I think they are trying to send a message that they will simply not tolerate the mishandling of animals," says veterinarian Dr. Paul Morley.
The video that showed animal mistreatment at the Westland Hallmark Meat Company of Chino, Calif., is disturbing enough. But is it evidence of cattle not fit for consumption? Frankly, no.
"The complaint is that after inspection those animals became non-ambulatory and then the inspectors were not called after that," say Morley. Cattle get one inspection as they arrive at the processing plant. It's after that, the government believes, that the cattle showed signs of illness or injury.
The animals are called "downer cattle." They are not supposed to enter the food chain without further inspection by a vet and if the animals are judged healthy enough for slaughter are subject to further inspections.
Among the potentials for those kinds of injuries -- "Anything that affects their legs or their ability to stand, such as a fracture or a muscle tear or something like that, would be the most likely thing," says Morley.
But.
There it is again. There's the potential that the cattle were getting ill when they were shipped and began to show signs of illness after they passed initial inspection at the processing plant. The government generally does not allow the downer cattle into the food supply because of the risks of e-coli or salmonella from wallowing in filth. But cattle are cleaned at processing and Morley believes that risk low.
The government also restricts the introduction of the cattle into the food supply because of concern over mad cow disease or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, known as BSE. In humans, it can cause variant Creutzfeld-Jakob disease.
But.
Morley agrees with the government's assessment that the risk is very low.
"It's theoretically possible that animals could possibly show no or minimal signs," says Morley. "In the United States it's a virtual impossibility that these animals had BSE because of the very very low prevalence that's estimated. Even back in 2006 before some of the ongoing restrictions had been put in place."
Morley says testing of samples has indicated BSE is extremely rare among the tens of millions of beef cattle in the U.S.
"Fewer than one in a million cattle were infected with BSE in 2006. And really more likely the estimates are one in 10 million or one in 20 million."
Morley also says most cattle are harvested -- slaughtered -- before they are old enough to be diagnosed or effected by BSE.
"Most cattle that are harvested for consumption in the United States are younger than 30 months; they are 24 months, 18 months something like that. There's approximately 35 to 40 million cattle in the United States that are harvested for food consumption annually right now. Five to eight million of those cattle are mature cattle so they might be older than 30 months."
Older cattle are often used in the manufacture of hamburger. There's that but again. And here's another: Morley says cattle parts that have been shown to contain the protein linked to BSE are not allowed in the food supply.
Manufacturers cannot use brain or spinal material, the tissue near the spinal cord or a part of the small intestine where the protein is known to accumulate.
And so, to our question of what would he do, Morley says he would have "no qualms," about eating a hamburger from the recalled beef.
Additional Resources Read the
official recall release from the USDA.
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