031253 Sellers Of Beef See Few Worries

Fort Worth, TX (The Star-Telegram) - Business was light at local restaurants and grocery stores on the day after Christmas, but shoppers were still buying beef despite the mad-cow scare that broke this week.

"I need a standing rib roast for a dinner party tomorrow night, and I'm sure it's safe," said Joan Kelly of Fort Worth as she stood at the fresh meat counter at Central Market at Hulen Street and Interstate 30.

"I don't see any reason to panic."

Officials with H.E. Butt Grocery Co. of San Antonio, Central Market's parent company, said that its beef supplies are closer to home and shouldn't be affected by the problems in the Pacific Northwest.

"All of our beef is from Texas," said Greg Flores, HEB spokesman.

The government and the livestock industry have sent reassuring messages since a cow in Washington state was found to have the mad-cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy. It is the first case confirmed in the United States.

If consumers still were buying beef Friday, investors were selling. Cattle futures dropped 3 cents per pound, the maximum allowed by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, on concerns about a ban on U.S. beef in Japan, which takes about 32% of U.S. exports. The market closed at 86.175 cents per pound.

The U.S. futures market had gained about 25% since Washington banned Canadian beef imports May 20 after mad-cow disease was detected in a single cow in Alberta this year.

Until this week, America was expected to export a record $3.6 billion worth of beef this year, up from $3.2 billion in 2002.

Investigators have yet to determine how the infected dairy cow contracted the disease. The farm where the cow was found has been quarantined.

The disease gets its name from the staggering and drooling exhibited by infected cows. Humans who eat an infected animal's brain or spinal cord may get a fatal brain-wasting disease called variant Creutzfeldt- Jakob disease.

Cattle get the disease from eating feed that contains cow brains and other parts. That feed has been banned in the United States for years.

The disease has a four- to six-year incubation period, and how many cattle in the United States might be infected remains in question.

That uncertainty played havoc for investors in meat companies Friday.

Shares of Tyson Foods, the world's largest meat processor, fell 31 cents, or 2.4%, to $12.59 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Hormel Foods Corp., maker of Dinty Moore stew, fell 31 cents, or 1.2%, to $26.15. Pilgrim's Pride Corp. of Pittsburg, the second-largest U.S. poultry producer, rose $1.28, or 7.6%, to $18.13.

To further assuage fears and to strengthen inspections, the Department of Agriculture said Friday that it will almost double the number of tests conducted on slaughtered animals this year. In a conference call, the agency's chief veterinarian, Ron DeHaven, said that tests of cattle on ranches will increase from 20,600 to 38,000 for the next fiscal year.

Texas beef sellers expressed only mild concern about the effect on their business.

Wayne Neal, manager of the Roy Pope Meat Market in Fort Worth, said that "most of our beef comes from packing houses in Kansas, and we haven't heard anything to indicate a problem for us."

Neal said the holidays traditionally produce strong sales, with steaks, prime rib and beef tenderloin popular items for entertaining around New Year's.

Hamburger purveyors said their business was slow Friday as many people were home from work and had leftovers to eat. Barry Brown, manager of Airways Burgers on North Collins Street in Arlington, noted that "we're tied to businesses around here, so we can't tell much from today's traffic."

Clint Walker, manager of Billy Miner's Saloon in downtown Fort Worth, said that crowds at the movie theaters in Sundance Square helped Friday business despite the absence of many downtown workers.

"I don't think the mad-cow scare is going to hurt us." he said.

Tommy Paul, manager of Angelo's Bar-B-Que near downtown Fort Worth, said Friday that he was busy as always. "People were buying beef left and right."

RETURN TO HOME PAGE

E-mail: sflanagan@sprintmail.com