Risky tissue getting into beef supply, studies show

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Risky tissue getting into beef supply, studies show

 

http://www.organicconsumers.org/madcow/risky122703.cfm

 

December 27, 2003 Rocky Mountain News by Todd Hartman

 

Cattle tissues known to carry the infectious agents behind mad cow

disease are making it into the nation's meat supply despite industry

and government claims to the contrary.

Americans are consuming the tissues in a variety of processed meats,

including fast-food hamburgers, taco meat and hot dogs, according to

food and health activists who point to several government and

academic studies on the matter. Meat industry officials say the high-

risk materials - namely the brain and spinal cord - are routinely

removed from animals, leaving the rest of the meat safe for

consumption.

 

But a 2002 survey by the U.S. Department of Agriculture

found " unacceptable " central nervous system residue, including

spinal cord tissue, in 35 percent of the meat that ends up in items

such as hot dogs, pizza toppings and hamburger.

 

Such tissues are where the infectious agents behind mad cow disease

congregate. Known as prions, the agents are a kind of rogue protein

that have led to a human version of mad cow disease that has killed

153 people.

 

" The presence of spinal cord in meat is not expected and cannot be

allowed in products produced through the (meat recovery) system, "

said the Food Safety Inspection Service, a branch of the USDA, in a

report on the survey.

 

Other studies also have revealed the presence of risky nervous

system tissues in meat. Watchdog groups say contamination occurs in

the slaughterhouse when:

 

* The spinal cord is severed with a band saw, spraying spinal cord

fluid onto the carcass. One European study found such contamination

occurred in every case that researchers examined.

 

* Compressing the brain with a stun gun or other device when the

animal is killed can send brain tissue deep into the blood stream

and the body. The industry has taken steps to alleviate this, but

some research indicates it remains a risk.

 

* A process known as Advanced Meat Recovery, designed to strip the

last bit of meat from the skeleton, has allowed spinal cord and

other nervous system tissues into the product that results, a fact

borne out most recently by the USDA's 2002 survey.

 

* Some bones, including the spinal column that can have bits of

spinal cord inside, are boiled to produce beef stock, extract and

flavoring.

 

The discarded parts, including the spinal cord and other skeletal

remains, are sent to rendering plants, where they're mixed with

other animal leftovers to make pet food, feed for pigs and chickens

and other products.

 

" The administration and industry have been parroting this line that

one need not worry about meat because one need not [sic] worry about

brain and spinal cord, " said Michael Greger, a doctor in New York

state and a nationally known watchdog on mad cow disease. He says he

finds plenty of cause for concern.

 

But an animal sciences professor at Colorado State University

disputed the notion that risky cattle parts were making their way

into the food supply.

 

CSU's Keith Belk said processes on the slaughterhouse floor,

including vacuuming out the spinal cord from the spinal column,

better methods of stunning cows beforethey're killed and inspections

of meat stripped from skeletal remains are strong safeguards.

 

" You never want to say it never happens, " said Belk, who has

reviewed slaughter facilities around the country. But, he

added, " there's nobody in the business who thinks it's good business

to do things that are dangerous to their consumers. (Industry) has

taken all of these things pretty seriously, especially when it came

to the (mad cow) issue. "

 

The process might not be perfect, but it's close, said Rosemary

Mucklow, head of the National Meat Association in Oakland, Calif.

 

" Do mistakes happen? Once in a while they can, " she said. " Once in a

while people look both ways before they cross the road, and they

still get run over.

 

" We try very hard to do the right thing, " Mucklow said. " I know the

people I visit who make this product work very hard to reach the

highest standards because they, too, eat the end product. "

 

The debate over the potential risk posed by contamination of meat

from a cow's brain or spinal tissue comes against a backdrop when

only a single case of mad cow disease has been found in the United

States, and not a single person has been known to contract the

disease in this country, industry and government officials point

out.

 

But watchdogs note that the USDA tested only about one in every

2,000 slaughtered cattle for the disease last fiscal year. That

means the government may not have caught other cases, and meat from

those cows could have been long ago consumed, or is yet to be eaten.

 

Add to that the fact that symptoms of the disease take anywhere from

10 to perhaps 40 years to appear in people, and human cases may not

show up for some time.

 

" No one really knows what the final death toll is going to be and

how many people are incubating the disease, " said Greger, who

advocates stricter regulation of slaughterhouse practices and more

testing of cattle.