current issue home => from the ground up archive

Foot and Mouth Disease and Mad Cow Disease: Information for Consumers Americans are currently hearing about two very different diseases affecting cattle in Europe: Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), also known as Mad Cow Disease. While the end result for affected animals and their herd-mates is similar – slaughter and cremation – the two diseases pose different threats to human consumers. Foot and Mouth Disease is caused by a virus. It is a severely debilitating and highly communicable disease of animals with cloven hooves. It kills the young and causes adult cows, goats, sheep, and pigs to develop fever, mouth blisters, and foot lesions along with loss of appetite, weight loss, lowered milk production, and spontaneous abortions. The virus is airborne and can be spread by direct or indirect contact with infected animals. Humans can serve as carriers and can also spread the virus via contaminated shoes, clothing, vehicles, etc. Humans are NOT at risk for developing the disease, even if they eat contaminated animal products. Although the disease is endemic in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and South America, the United States has not had an outbreak of FMD since 1929. Along with Canada, Australia, and several other countries, the U.S. has now banned the importation of meat from the European Union and Argentina in an effort to keep the virus from reaching local livestock. Also banned are cheeses packed in water — such as feta and mozzarella di buffala — and cheeses that contain meat, such as Gruyere with salami. Not included in the ban are pasteurized dairy products, most cheeses, yogurt, Italian prosciutto, canned hams, or any other food products that have been heated above 175 degrees Fahrenheit. Risk to Consumers Foot and Mouth Disease does not pose a health risk to human consumers. Mad Cow Disease is not caused by a virus or bacteria, but is a prion disease, caused by the abnormal folding of prion proteins in the brain resulting in sponge-like holes. Prion diseases, also known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE), occur naturally in a variety of species. In sheep, the disease is known as scrapie; in elk and deer, it’s chronic wasting disease; and in humans, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). Classic CJD, a progressive neurological disorder, affects about one in a million people, and generally occurs in the elderly. While scrapie has been recognized in sheep for over two hundred years, cattle were not known to have a form of TSE until 1986, when the first case was discovered in Great Britain. Shortly thereafter, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) began to appear in unrelated herds throughout England. Cows were exhibiting bizarre behavior, loss of motor control, and premature death. When autopsied, their brains showed the characteristic sponge-like holes of TSEs. It is now believed that BSE originated from giving cows feed that contained meat-and-bone meal derived from sheep infected with scrapie. High-protein meat-and-bone meal is made from the rendered carcasses of dead animals as well as material from slaughterhouses. The prion proteins responsible for TSEs are not killed by high temperatures, pressure, chemicals, antibiotics, or irradiation. The intact TSE prions were transmitted to the cattle through the unnatural process of feeding animal protein to cows. As the BSE cows died, their bodies were added to the mix and fed to more cattle. To make matters worse, Britain was exporting the contaminated animal feed to other countries in the European Union (EU). In the mid 1990’s, a new variant of human CJD (nvCJD) appeared in Great Britain. Unlike classic CJD with an average age at death of 68 years, the new variant CJD was occurring in young people, with the average age at death of 27.5 years. In addition, the average time to death after the onset of symptoms was 13 months for the new variant versus less than six months for classic CJD. In 1996, British scientists established a possible link between nvCJD and the consumption of meat from cattle with BSE. As of February, 2001, 98 cases of nvCJD have occurred in the EU, all but four in the United Kingdom. Because the incubation period between infection and onset of symptoms is at least five years and could be up to 20 years or longer, no one knows how many cases of nvCJD have yet to be diagnosed. Bovine brain tissue, spinal chord, and spinal fluid appear to be the primary carriers, although there is some question about other forms of organ meat. In the recent past, British ground beef and sausage often contained significant amounts of brain and spinal chord, especially in stores selling to low-income families. In addition to banning nervous system tissue in ground meats, Britain has now stopped the sale of meat on-the-bone, such as T-bone steaks, because of proximity to the spinal column. No cases of BSE in livestock or new variant CJD in humans have been detected in the United States. The USDA inspects all cattle before they go to slaughter for signs of BSE or other central nervous system impairment and condemns any animals displaying symptoms. The meat from these animals is not allowed to be used in human food and the brains are submitted to the USDA for analysis. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention monitor human cases of suspected CJD, watching for the possibility of the new variant form. In 1989, the USDA prohibited importation of live ruminants (e.g. cows, goats, sheep) from countries where BSE is known to exist, and by 1997 had extended the ban to live ruminants and most ruminant products from all of Europe. In 1997, the FDA prohibited the use of most mammalian protein in the manufacture of animal feeds given to ruminants. That ban does not extend to feed for pigs or chickens. Instead, the feed must be labeled "Do not feed to cows or other ruminants" and companies must have systems in place to prevent accidental mixing of the feeds. A recent FDA report (January 9, 2001) stated that hundreds of recently inspected feed mills and renderers were violating labeling requirements and other rules associated with the ban. Twenty eight percent of renderers did not have a system to prevent commingling of meat-and-bone meal from ruminants with that from non-ruminants. As a result, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association is pressing government officials to improve compliance among suppliers of feed. The U.S. livestock industry fears the consequences of BSE as much as consumers do. Risk to Consumers Beef: Based on the assumption that beef raised in this country is free of BSE, there is no risk to consumers from domestic beef. European cows, sheep, and goats and the foods made from them have not been allowed in this country since 1997. Other meats: No evidence exists that humans can contract nvCJD from sheep, goats, pigs, chickens, or other domestic animals. The CDC states that one Montana hunter known to have eaten wild elk meat may have died of the disease. Dairy products: Dairy products have not been implicated in the transmission of nvCJD from animals with BSE. Supplements: Some supplements contain bovine products such as serum, glands, colostrum, gelatin, and collagen. The FDA has no jurisdiction over supplement sources, but recommends that products intended for humans not use bovine-derived materials from BSE countries. Our HABA Department staff have researched the source of bovine material in products that we sell. To our knowledge, none of the supplements sold at the Co-op contain bovine material from countries with cattle known to have BSE.