Mad cow little concern across North County

By: TIM MAYER - Staff writer | Saturday, December 27, 2003 9:47 PM PST ∞

NORTH COUNTY ---- Store owners across North County on Saturday said the beef business is booming and customers have little concern about the report of mad cow disease in Washington state, adding that the few people who are nervous are easily reassured there is little or nothing to fear.

"There is no cause for any alarm," said John Haedrich, owner of Tip Top Meats in Carlsbad. "We have 100 percent safety here. We have four licensed (meat) inspectors here and, myself, I'm a butcher for over 55 years. We don't sell anything if it's not 100 percent."

Mike Sutherland at Mike's Choice Meats in Oceanside said he's only had a couple of customers ask about the mad cow scare, and those who do are most concerned about how it might affect his business.

"The main reason (that people should not worry) is that all of my (corn-fed) beef comes out of Iowa," he said. But "I am taking precautions, making sure that the (meat) boxes are all from the ... Iowa beef packer. And I'm requesting some information on mad cow disease. I want myself and my employees to be well informed."

Officials with the U.S. Department of Agriculture have said the most likely cause of infection in animals is cattle food into which beef meat and bone meal have been added. That practice has been banned in the United States and Canada since 1997.

Dan Bisher at Bisher's Quality Meats in Ramona said customers have been curious about the Washington incident, but not overly concerned. "We've had people asking about it, but nothing too serious. All the meat we sell is corn-fed ... from Iowa. I just explain that and they completely understand."

Robert Thompson, an employee at Hubbard's Meats in Vista, said if customers ask "we tell them, and we show them that we don't get our meat from Washington. We get our meat from the state of California. They are satisfied with that."

Store representatives said the mad cow scare has had no impact on business before, during or after Christmas.

"We sold a lot of beef," Sutherland said.

"We're absolutely not affected," said Haedrich, at Tip Top Meats. "We sold tons of prime ribs this year."

And Cal Mileski, owner of the Oceanside Cafe on South Coast Highway, said he hasn't heard a whisper of concern from his customers. "We sell a lot of beef here. We're kind of a meat-and-potatoes place (and) all the regular customers are still eating their normal food."

Representatives of major market chains serving north county ---- Ralphs, Vons, Albertson's and Stater Bros. ---- could not be reached for comment Saturday.

But customers in the parking lot at Stater Bros. in Oceanside on Saturday said they felt they had little if anything to fear.

"I'm not concerned about the disease," said Charles Clendening of Oceanside. "I don't think it will get widespread ... They know what cow and what herd it came from. All they have to do is track it back. I just hope it lowers the price of beef."

George Friedman of Carlsbad said that, with millions of cattle in the United States, "what are my odds? I think I'll take a bit of hamburger. I just started the (high-protein) Atkin's diet."

Also not concerned was Frank Cox of Fallbrook. "I don't think we have a whole lot to worry about. We have inspection processes in place that are on the outlook for this."

Gloria Taylor of Oceanside said she doesn't buy ground beef anymore. "Even before this I wasn't too hot on ground beef. All I buy is what they say is safe, like the roasts and the steaks."

Health officials have said the disease can be transmitted through infected meat, especially the brain and spinal tissue, but muscle cuts such as steaks and roasts are safe.

The discovery of mad cow disease in the United States has been making headlines in newspapers and leading television news reports since the USDA on Tuesday reported preliminary tests had uncovered the disease. The agency gave final confirmation Christmas Day that a slaughtered dairy cow was infected with the disease of the brain and central nervous system called bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

In rare instances it can affect humans. Since an outbreak in Great Britain in the mid-1990s, the Associated Press reports 153 cases of the human variety have been found worldwide.

Executive Vice President Ben Higgins of the California Cattlemen's Association said Saturday that his organization, with 3,000 members including growers in San Diego County, believes there is no cause for alarm among customers.

"There is no indication that there is any risk to human health from this single case," Higgins said. But "this is a political disaster. And, for our industry, it has the potential to be an economic disaster (although) there is really no public health issue."

Countries who consume about 90 percent of the beef exported from the United States have banned meat from this country, according to wire reports. Higgins said the state's cattle industry is a $1.35 billion per year business, and exports account for about $160 million per year.

Potential good news, Higgins said, is an announcement by the USDA on Saturday morning that the infected dairy cow has been traced to Canada, from which it was imported in 2001. More good news may be that the USDA said Canadian records show the animal was 6 1/2 years old, not 4 1/2 years old as previously reported.

Higgins said the significance is "we know this animal contracted the disease either shortly before, or shortly after the (animal product) feed ban was in place."

Also important is that since the middle of this year, the beef industry has had a verification system in place to show foreign customers that U.S. processors are not receiving nor exporting beef from Canada.

"With both of those, there's really no reason now for those borders to remain closed to U.S. beef," Higgins said. "We are asking that the (federal) administration make the renewal of our exports their number one trade priority."

Contact staff writer Tim Mayer at (760) 901-4043 or tmayer@nctimes.com.