U.S. Cattle Industry Awaits Mad Cow Test Results

Monday, November 22, 2004 2:40 p.m. ET

By Randy Fabi

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. cattle industry anxiously awaited federal test results, expected as early as Monday, that will determine if the United States has a second case of the deadly mad cow disease, industry officials said.

The U.S. Agriculture Department kept information about the suspect animal under tight wraps, refusing to identify its age, sex or location.

The USDA said last Thursday that an animal tested "inconclusive" for mad cow disease in two rapid screening tests and said it would conduct more sophisticated analysis. Test results were expected before the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday, industry officials said.

An industry source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a USDA announcement was expected around 6 p.m. EST on Monday.

"We are holding up our holiday plans, awaiting the result," another industry official said.

But a USDA spokeswoman refused to say if test results would be made public on Monday.

If the results are positive it will be the second confirmed U.S. case for the brain-wasting malady, after one was discovered last December in a Washington state dairy cow. USDA investigators determined the cow was born in Canada in 1997 and shipped to Washington state four years later.

Key issues for the U.S. cattle and meat industry are the age and birth country of the suspect animal.

If the animal was born after 1997, that would raise questions about the adequacy of U.S. mad cow safeguards adopted that year, analysts said. In August 1997, the U.S. government banned cattle remains in cattle feed as a precaution.

"The best case would be that it came across from Canada and it was located in Washington (state)," said Bob Anderson, livestock analyst with Commodity Services Inc. "The worst case scenario would be a beef cow in Montana or Texas."

FDA DELAYS MORE SAFEGUARDS

Consumer groups said additional safeguards were needed.

Peter Lurie, deputy director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group, said it was "ridiculous" that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration failed to carry through its January plan to ban cattle spinal cords and brains from feed for pigs, horses and other animals to prevent cross-contamination. The FDA also proposed to ban cattle blood and poultry litter from cattle feed.

"An obvious first step would be for the FDA to actually do what it promised it would do," Lurie said.

The FDA said in July it might not finalize all the new animal feed rules until 2006.

The USDA said the carcass of the suspect animal now being tested did not enter the human or animal food supply.

Live cattle futures at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange were mixed on Monday. At midday, the December contract was down 0.05 at 84.75 cents per pound.

"If it is positive it will be really interesting to see if the reaction is 'the system works and we found it' or that Japan is just going to close the door on negotiations," said Doug Harper, livestock analyst with Brock Associates.

Tokyo and Washington reached an agreement last month to resume U.S. beef exports, but details remain to be worked out.

Mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, was identified in Britain in the 1980s and is caused by malformed proteins called prions. People can contract a human version of the fatal disease by eating infected meat.

Immediately after a case of mad cow disease was confirmed last December, the USDA rolled out new safety measures, including banning sick and crippled cattle from human food.

The U.S. cattle industry is valued at about $27 billion. U.S. beef exports totaled $3.9 billion in 2003, but fell to a forecast $446 million in 2004 as trading partners stopped importing U.S. beef.

Copyright © 2003 Reuters Limited.