010396 Americans OK With Beef Despite News

Washington - Americans love their beef.

They spent a record $52 billion on the red meat in 2000 and ate 70 pounds of it per person. Although concern about livestock diseases in Europe has grown in recent weeks, Americans apparently aren't ready to ignore their cravings for a juicy T-bone just yet.

“I have great faith in the USDA,” said Gordon Harvey, 65, of Arlington, Va., who bought some bacon, a pork roast and a steak at the bustling Eastern Market near the U.S. Capitol before heading to the poultry counter.

But, “I wouldn't hesitate to stop buying meat altogether if I thought it was dangerous.”

Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said there are no signs yet that Americans are shunning beef, although they are confusing foot-and-mouth disease with the much rarer and more dangerous mad cow disease.

Mad cow disease has never been found in the United States, officials say. But inspectors for the U.S. Department of Agriculture seized hundreds of imported sheep from two Vermont farms last week - the first such action against any U.S. farm animals - fearing they may be infected with a version of mad cow.

Officials are also eyeing more than two dozen imported cows in Minnesota, Texas and Vermont for signs of the disease, which is linked to a brain-wasting illness in humans.

Foot-and-mouth disease, which is harmless to humans but can be spread by them, was last in the United States in 1929.

Unless one of those diseases hits the United States, consumers are unlikely to change their beef eating habits, some say.

“That fact is, it's not here,” said Chuck Levitt, a meat analyst with Alaron Trading Corp. of Chicago. “The American people by and large still feel we have the safest food supply on the planet and by and large we do.”

Farmers fear the economic consequences of foot-and-mouth more than the disease itself, as infected pigs, sheep and cows lose their appetite and stop growing and producing milk.

The fast-spreading disease struck Britain in mid-February and has touched France, the Netherlands and Ireland. Argentina also is contending with a new outbreak.

Britain says it has lost $240 million and the toll in lost trade and livestock - which are being destroyed in an effort to contain the spread - could approach $1 billion.

The United States has banned meat imports from 15 European countries and Argentina until the outbreak is brought under control. U.S. consumers could face higher beef prices at neighborhood butcher shops, grocery stores and restaurants as a result.

“If England doesn't have any meat, they're going to have to buy it from somewhere,” said Tony Heath, owner of Quality Cash Market in Concord, N.H. “They're probably going to buy it from us, and we have just so much, so all prices will rise because of the limited supply.”

Chuck Boppell, president and chief executive officer of the Sizzler chain of steakhouse restaurants said, “We're seeing the prices on the futures market just go crazy.” Contracts for certain cuts of beef, for future delivery, have risen by half, he said.

This comes as beef consumption has been on the upswing after years of decline.

A record $52 billion was spent on beef last year, up from $48.7 billion in 1999, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association says.

Americans also ate 69.5 pounds of beef per person last year, reflecting steady but modest increases since 1993, when consumption fell to 65.1 pounds. Even so, Americans ate more chicken last year, 82.1 pounds.

Even the recall last year of nearly 3 million pounds of ground beef and beef products because of possible contamination with dangerous E. coli and listeria bacteria didn't seem to affect U.S. beef-eating habits, Levitt said.

He predicted the jittery economy and rising fuel prices would influence beef consumption more than the outbreaks of animal disease overseas.

Still, mad cow disease worries people, with nearly two-thirds of Americans concerned about it becoming a problem in the United States, says the latest CNN- USA Today-Gallup poll.

Fewer than half of respondents had expressed concern about the disease in an ABC News-Washington Post poll in mid-January.

“I haven't considered it, but if I traveled to other places I'd be concerned about it,” said Sylvester Copeland, 64, an Army veteran who enjoys a good “half smoke” sausage. He bought six at Eastern Market, a short walk from his senior citizens' home.

Comparing meat prices at the Washington market, Brenda Bunting of Haleiwa, Hawaii, said she'll worry when, or if, the disease is confirmed in the United States.

“Then I will think it's only a matter of time before it reaches me in Hawaii,” she said.

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