010350 Beef Packers Can Meet McDonald's BSE Deadline

Chicago - The top U.S. beef packers said they will meet an April 1 deadline from McDonald's Corp. that the beef the fast-food giant buys is from cattle fed in accordance with federal rules designed to keep out mad cow disease.

“After April 1, we will not purchase cattle from a producer without certification,” said Gary Mickelson, spokesman for IBP Inc., a leading producer of fresh beef and pork.

McDonald's, one of the largest buyers of beef worldwide, told its beef suppliers this week that beginning April 1 they must provide documentation that the cattle they buy meet U.S. Food and Drug Administration standards for feed.

“We wanted to help build extra firewalls around the food supply chain in the U.S.” said Walt Riker, a McDonald's spokesman.

IBP, ConAgra Foods Inc., and Excel Corp. all said they could comply with McDonald's April 1 deadline.

The three companies produce nearly two-thirds of the nation's beef, according to Steve Kay, editor of Cattle Buyers Weekly, a marketing and business newsletter for the meat industry.

Mad cow is the common name for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), a brain-wasting disease that has attacked cattle in Europe. It has not been found in the United States, but recent occurrences in Europe and the accidental feeding in January of meat and bone meal to cattle at a Texas feedlot have U.S. companies reinforcing existing federal safeguards.

It is believed the disease is spread by animals eating infected tissue from other animals, such as in meat and bone meal. Since 1997, the FDA has banned the feeding of meat and bone meal to ruminant animals, such as cattle.

The concern for humans is scientists suspect that eating beef from BSE-infected cattle could cause a fatal brain disease.

McDonald's has reported that the disease in Europe hurt restaurant sales there in the fourth quarter last year. On Wednesday, it issued a profits warning for investors, citing continued poor European consumer demand due to food scares.

On March 1, IBP, which has 11 U.S. beef plants, began asking suppliers to provide written verification their cattle have not been fed prohibited proteins, said Mickelson.

ConAgra Foods, which has six U.S. beef plants, has been requiring written verification since January.

“We will be able to comply with that April 1 deadline,” said Karen Savinski, spokeswoman for ConAgra Foods Inc.

Excel Corp., a unit of agriculture conglomerate Cargill Inc., also said it will meet the April 1 deadline. The company has five U.S. beef plants.

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