BSE is a fatal disease that causes progressive neurological degeneration in cattle. Similar to BSE, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is a rare disease that occurs in humans. In 1996, following outbreaks of BSE among British cattle, scientists found a possible link between BSE and a new variant of CJD (vCJD). While it is not certain how BSE may be spread to humans, it is believed that vCJD may be acquired from eating food products containing the BSE agent, and there is strong epidemiologic and laboratory evidence for a causal association between vCJD and BSE. The absence of confirmed cases of vCJD in geographic areas free of BSE supports a causal association.
BSE is one of a class of fatal brain diseases generally called transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. These include scrapie (in sheep and present in the US), chronic wasting disease (in deer and elk and present in the US, especially in the Rocky Mountains, but growing more common in the upper Midwest), trransmissible mink encephalopathy (an outbreak occurred in the US when farm raised mink were fed meat from “downer” cull dairy cows), as well as BSE (in cows) and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD and vCJD in humans).
These diseases are characterized by a long incubation period of up to several years, during which there is no visible indication of the disease. The incubation period for BSE among cattle ranges from three to eight years; for vCJD among humans, the incubation period is unknown, but is at least five years and could extend up to 20 years or longer. The name is based on the major effect: as the disease progresses the brain becomes riddled with spongeline holes, with associated neurological impairment. The diseases are invariably fatal; there is no known treatment or cure.
We rarely eat meat unless we’ve grown it ourselves. Our concern that US meat supplies may be tainted come from four problems we see in the industry: 1) imported beef products labeled as USDA inspected and commingled with domestic product; 2) loopholes in the ruminant protein feed ban; 3) the use of old cows for hamburger and other processed beef products; and 4) the industry drive to fatten cattle as cheaply as possible. As Jo Robinson says on her EAT WILD web site: “Can an industry that saves costs by fattening ruminants on pizza crust, chicken feathers, gummy bears, chicken manure, candy bars, bubble gum, cement dust, and ground-up telephone books be relied upon to produce a safe product?”
1) IMPORTED BEEF
The U.S. imports over 20% of the beef consumed. Some of this imported beef carries a USDA quality grade stamp, leading consumers to believe it is a domestic product raised with the safeguards currently in place in the US. This is not necessarily true. According to Commerce Department figures, over 90% of all hamburger consumed in the U.S. is blended with imported beef and beef byproducts, and because of the commingling that occurs during processing, a pound of ground beef may contain meat from many companies and countries.
In 1999 – 2000, the US imported beef from Canada, Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Chile, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, United Kingdom, Ireland, Austria, Spain, Italy, Norway, Switzerland, Croatia, United Arab Emirates, Nigeria, Thailand, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and Other Pacific Islands. (information from USDA, via an R-CALF position paper 5 August 2001). Several of these countries have BSE. (Read more about imports and country of origin labeling)
You can be assured that our animals are born in east central Idaho, and live their lives quietly on our lush pastures and stored forages until they are ready to be enjoyed by your family. They are fed no supplements other than minerals. They are born to our own healthy mother cows.
2) LOOPHOLES
Sandra Blakeslee wrote a series on the possibility of BSE in the United States for the NY Times. On Jan 11 1999 she wrote: “Among 180 large companies that render cattle and another ruminant, sheep, nearly a quarter were not properly labeling their products and did not have a system to prevent commingling, the FDA said. And among 347 FDA-licensed feed mills that handle ruminant materials–these tend to be large operators that mix drugs into their products–20 percent were not using labels with the required caution statement, and 25 percent did not have a system to prevent commingling. Then there are some 6,000 to 8,000 feed mills so small they do not require FDA licenses. They are nonetheless subject to the regulations, and of 1,593 small feed producers that handle ruminant material and have been inspected, 40 percent were not using approved labels and 25 percent had no system in place to prevent commingling.”
In the January 14 issue, Blakeslee describes how US feed companies, pet food companies, pharmaceutical firms, and nutritional supplement manufacturers have been importing large quantities of possibly contaminated bovine parts and rendered animal protein from Britain. She writes “British export statistics show that 20 tons of ‘meals of meat or offal’ that were ‘unfit for human consumption’ and probably intended for animals were sent to the United States in 1989. And 37 tons were exported to the US in 1997, well after the government banned imports of such risky meat.”
3) USE OF CULL COWS
Older cows that no longer serve for producing calves are usually sold as “cull cows” and ground up into hamburger, made into hotdogs, or used in processed foods such as canned soup. Cull cows considered unfit for human consumption are rendered into animal protein that can still be used the production of chicken, pork and fish farm fish, as well as used in pet food. Scientists have generally agreed that BSE or BSE-like diseases “spontaneously” appear in “one out of every million humans, cows, sheep and many other mammals. Since 36 million cattle are slaughtered annually in the United States, about 36 cows spontaneously infected with mad cow disease could be entering the nation’s food chain each year.” Because of commingling that occurs during processing, a single infected cow could affect a large amount of processed product.
We do not sell you old cows. Alderspring Beef comes from animals less than 24 months old.
4) THE FEEDLOT DIET
It amazes us what feedlots will use to fatten cattle. We are especially concerned about the widespread use of “broiler litter” which is simply the wastes from chickens in chicken houses. Because chickens can still be fed ruminant protein (parts from cattle left over from processing or whole cows unfit for human consumption), we wonder if chickens can act as infectious agents by carrying prions from their feed, excreting them in the chicken waste, which can then infect cattle fed broiler litter.
Our animals eat what they were designed to eat: grass and forages. No byproducts of any production process except the sun!
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