Dairy Under Quarantine on Mad Cow Report

Associate Press ^ | 12/25/03 | SHANNON DININNY

[torstars]

MABTON, Wash. - Residents of this tiny south central Washington town rallied around neighboring dairy owners as news leaked that a local farm was the source of what could be the nation's first case of mad cow disease.

There are about eight dairy farms in Mabton _ population 2,045 _ and dozens more in the surrounding area. A government source familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press that the cow came from Sunny Dene Ranch in Mabton.

Mayor David Conradt said he did not expect "any financial hit" to the town, as long as the disease is limited to one cow. "The impact, I hope, is going to be minimal," he said. Locals were unwilling to discuss the matter with reporters, who were turned away from businesses and farms.

Sid Wavrin, who identified himself as the owner of the Sunny Dene Ranch, declined to comment when contacted by The AP. Sunny Dene has operations in Mabton and nearby Grandview. William Wavrin, who also is listed by the state Department of Agriculture on registration documents for Sunny Dene, did not return a call for comment.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman had announced Tuesday that a single Holstein from a farm near the town, about 40 miles southeast of Yakima, likely had mad cow disease. If confirmed by follow-up tests at a lab near London, the case would be the first in U.S. history.

The case quickly affected at least one company associated with the slaughtered cow. Supermarket giant Safeway Inc. said it has stopped selling all fresh ground beef products from an Oregon supplier that received meat from the affected cow.

Outside the Sunny Dene dairy, police warned that anyone entering property without permission would be arrested for trespassing, so reporters lined up alongside a road that separates the farm and the Yakama Indian Reservation. A sign at the farm read "Private Property."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said the cow was slaughtered at Vern's Moses Lake Meat, Inc., in Moses Lake, about 70 miles northeast of Mabton, on Dec. 9, after she became paralyzed, apparently as a result of calving.

The USDA said Vern's was voluntarily recalling about 10,410 pounds of raw beef, but the agency's Food Safety and Inspection Service said there was an "extremely low likelihood" that the recalled beef contains the infectious agent that causes bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

Tom Ellestad, co-manager of Vern's Moses Lake Meat, told the Columbia Basin Herald in Moses Lake that he remains confident in the inspection system that led to the discovery. "We have done nothing wrong," he told the newspaper. "The inspection system works because we caught this cow."

The USDA said the slaughtered cow was deboned at Midway Meats in Centralia, and the meat _ though no contaminated spinal or brain tissue _ was sent to two other plants in the region, identified as Willamette and Interstate Meat.

Safeway, which has sold fresh ground beef products from Interstate Meat Distributors Inc. of suburban Portland, Ore., said Wednesday that it will stop doing so and will look for another supplier.

[torstars]

The report begins to name names of farm, slaughter house, deboning wholesaler, packagers and distributors, and retail outlets. If you go through the steps, it is easy to see how much more than 10,000 pounds of beef is involved with the one downer Holstein slaughtered Dec 9, 2003.

[farmfriend]

Rights, farms, environment ping.

Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this list.
I don't get offended if you want to be removed.

[torstars]

Here is an outline of where the hamburger from the downer Holstein might have ended up.

The Holstein started on Sonny Dene Ranch in Mabton, WA. The ranch actually has two locations and 4000 head of cattle are quarantined.

The Holstein was sent to Vern's Moses Lake slaughterhouse, were it was slaughtered, along with 19 other animals, which when dressed weighed 10,410 pounds. These are the 20 animals that are subject to recall.

However, the dressed meat was then sent to Midway Meat in Centrailia for deboning. I think it is fairly safe to say that Midway deboned much more than the 20 animals from Verns and I suspect that the production at Midway was markedly more than 10,410 pounds of dressed beef.

Midway then sent the deboned meat from Vern's (and probably much more), to two processors, Willamette Meats in Portland Oregon, and Interstate Meats in Clackamas, Oregon (I believe that Interstate Meats also has a facility in Washington State). I suspect much more meat was mixed in with the shipment from Midway and these products (probably hamburgers and sausages) were packaged and sent to retailers.

The Interstate Meat web site shows some of its products. They say they are posed for distribution to Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Northern California. Safeway, a large retail chain, has indicated that they sell product from Interstate Meat.

Thus, in all likelihood, the recalled product was probably mixed with product from other sites at each stage of processing (deboning at one site and processing and packaging a two other sites). However, it is not clear if the processing sites package product which could be separated and identified, or whether bulk product was sent to retailers.

Pictures of the inside of Interstate Meats show rather larger containers, strongly suggesting that in fact bulk product was shipped to retailers, which of course would potentially be mixed with even more product.

[torstars]

Here are pictures of the Interstate Meats facilities in Oregon

http://www.cascadefloors.com/interst.htm

The large containers may represent the incoming product, but as shown in the pictures, the containers are both large and numerous.

[The Westerner]

Impressive report. Thanks for the details.

[torstars]

I just read the GAO report

http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d02183.pdf

and it is not surprising that BSE was not found previously. This year about 20,000 cattle were tested and 1 positive was found. Since this is a 3 fold increase in testing over last year, less than 7000 were tested in 2002. The GAO report shows the numbers between 1995 and 2001. Prior to 2000, less than 1000 animals were tested per year. Back in 1995, when the number of BSE infected animals would be expected to be highest because problems in UK and contaminated feed, only a few hundred downer animals were tested.

However, the highest likelihood for BSE infection would be in animals that die on farms before slaughter. Some are just buried, but most are sold for rendering. The vast majority of these animals are not tested for BSE and the rendered products can easily get back into circulation via animal feed.

I expect much more testing and many more positives. The widespread ban on US beef imports, coupled with domestic concerns, will force a real BSE review and I don't think the results will be pretty.

[Zipporah]

Good heavens.. don't know if my standing rib roast for Christmas dinner is going to be enjoyed quite as much as it was before this news ..

One question, the article stated that 'as long as it only one cow'.. how is 'mad cow disease' spread (other than through feed using bovine protein).. and also, it is stated that mad cow disease can only be spread to humans if the brain or nervous system is injested.. in the UK there were over 100 deaths due to MC, I didn't know that in the UK that this was a practice.. Thaks.

[torstars]

The easiest way for BSE to spread is by contaminated feed, which is what happened in the UK. The US has put restrictions on feed, but there is the issue of compliance as well as recycling (going into non-cattle feed, followed by slaughter of those animals, which can then get back into cattle feed).

Since the Holstein in question was 4-5 years old and incubation times for BSE in cattle are around 3 years, it seems that the infection probably happened before the cow was sold in Oct 2001. If infection was from contaminated feed, then it seems likely that may more animals were infected on the birth farm, which seems to be one of two other farms in Washington state.

Although the nervous system material has the highest concentrations of prions, a recent case of highly suspect transmission of vCJD by blood transfusion (donor and recipient both developed fatal vCJD), it seems that prions can get out and about into blood.

However, even if limited to nervous system material, the spinal cord frequently is not fully removed (next time you buy a T-bone steak, look at the notch in the top of the T. If there is anything it the notch, it is probably spinal chord (white and mushy).

The spinal cord could contaminate steaks (or anything else on the grill), but the biggest problem comes from mechanical processing of the bones, which can efficiently remove the spinal chord material along with meat on the bones, which is then mixed in with the meat extracted and packaged in hamburger or sausage.

Moreover, since the US has been declared "BSE-free", cattle brains can be sold for human consumption.

[torstars]

Here are some more details. Interstate Meats website indicates that they can process 1 million pounds of hamburger per week. Thus, if Midway's boneless product was all processed on one high production day at Interstate, then it could be in 200,000 pounds of product. However, Interstate Meats seems to specialize in FRESH hamburger, with a shelf life of 12 days.

Thus, it seems likely that there will be no recall, because by now the fresh burgers have been sold, cooked, and eaten.

I think the recall will be limited to recalling the good-old days when testing procedures allowed product to be processed, packaged, sold, cooked, and eaten, while the USDA was waiting for test results from downed cows to come in from Ames, IA

[Zipporah]

Thanks for they reply..very helpful. Also, I've been told that the disease is from a 'protein' rather than viral or bacterial .. if that is so, then no matter what the cooking temperature, could the disease could still be spread to human?

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!

[torstars]

Yes, that is why BSE causes such concern. BSE is caused by mis-folded proteins and the proteins are resistant to conventional sterilization procedures such as autoclaving or radiation. Since it is the shape of the protein that counts, it is hard to test for the presence of the proteins, which typically require testing of brain material from dead animals (or humans).

The problem is compounded by the long incubation times, which can be measured in years or decades.

The blood transfusion case is a good example. The donor had no symptoms when the blood was donated in 1997. He developed symptoms 3 1/2 years later and subsequently died. The recipient just developed symptoms and died recently, about 6 years after the transfusions.

vCJD is very nasty and universally fatal after an extended incubation time. I think there will be significant demand for a comprehensive and transparent investigation of BSE in US beef.

[Zipporah]

Thanks again.. I appreciate the information..

[torstars]

Local papers in Oregon are beginning to name names. Recalls of ground beef at Safeway and Albertsons

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1046424/posts

[Wonder Warthog]

"Since it is the shape of the protein that counts, it is hard to test for the presence of the proteins, which typically require testing of brain material from dead animals (or humans)."

In all likelihood, this will turn out to be a false positive. At this point, there is NO conclusive evidence that this is a case of BSE.

[facedown]

Good heavens.. don't know if my standing rib roast for Christmas dinner is going to be enjoyed quite as much as it was before this news ..

Relax and enjoy. The fear-mongerers are having a field day with this nonsense.

[torstars]

At this point, there is NO conclusive evidence that this is a case of BSE.

Right. Its only a movie.

[octobersky]

Lots of helpful info in this thread... bttt!

[aposiopetic]

Thanks for the initial post and for the rest of the information provided on the thread.

[Libertina]

I'm happy that the reporters were shooed off local farms, but very UNHAPPY that a sick, diseased cow would still be rendered for consumption - in ANY FOOD - human or animal. That is a moronic practice. IMHO