010392 Industry Reports No Foot-And-Mouth FalloutMarch 31, 2001Northwest consumers and the meat industry appear to be confident that beef is safe, amid the devastation wrought by foot-and-mouth disease across the Atlantic. Thousands of animals are being slaughtered and buried because of the epidemic in Great Britain. Animals exposed to foot-and-mouth lose weight and their ability to produce milk. Tim Larson, who has been a butcher for nearly 20 years, has seen the disturbing pictures coming out of Europe. "We wonder about it, but as far as I know, there's nothing here. So as long as it's 7,000 miles away, that's a good place for it to be," Larson says. The U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. customs officials are taking drastic measures to keep it that way, by banning beef products from England, and disinfecting travelers who could be carriers of the virus. Larson says that his customers are not turning away from beef. Many other meat retailers are saying the same thing. Even before the European scare, the United States imported very little beef from overseas. The domestic beef industry is cutting back production to boost prices here, so the price of beef is inching upward, but not because of the foot-and-mouth scare. Larson says that the problems in Europe have actually made domestic beef safer than ever. There's more vigilance, since no one wants the crisis in Europe to make its way to American shores. Even if foot-and-mouth did make it to the United States, it's not considered a threat to humans. But the highly contagious disease would be disastrous for the American beef industry.
E-mail: sflanagan@sprintmail.com |
