Mad Cow Musings

Worried about mad cow disease? This past year's largest meat recall in U.S. history, involving a massive 143,383,823 pounds of raw and frozen beef probably only contributed to your concern. The recall was due to one meat packing company in Chino, California, which appeared to be processing so-called "downer" cows, livestock that cannot walk, which is against USDA regulations for good reason.

One of the reasons that livestock cannot walk is infection with "mad cow disease" or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). If passed on to people by infected beef, it can cause a deadly brain disease known as variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. According to the USDA, out of about 800,000 cows tested since 2004, two have tested positive for BSE and none have shown up in the food supply.

Just in case you want to know what you can do in your supermarket and your kitchen to reduce your risk of BSE...

• Eat less beef in general. Simply put, the less beef you eat, the lower your risk of eating contaminated beef.


• Avoid ground beef; or buy it from a store or butcher you trust, or grind it yourself. (Ground beef is a little more likely to contain the proteins that cause BSE in cows than steaks, because ground meat can come from several cuts of meat and include bone marrow or other questionable parts - depending on the company.)


• Buy cuts of lean beef that are boneless to avoid contact with bone marrow.

Related Topics:

• Greener Pastures
• WebMD Video: Keeping Meat Safe