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

[Wonder Warthog]

"Right. Its only a movie."

No, but I know enough about the reliability of "screening-class" tests to know that their main weakness is the generation of false positives. Of course, from a safety standpoint, this is a good thing, as it is better that there be false alarms than to actually have a disease get started.

However, at this point, my statement was exactly accurate--there is no definitive proof that this actually IS "Mad Cow"/BSE, and there won't be until the results come back from the lab in Britain.

[tubebender]

You sound like a troll for PETA/ELF, Newbie...

[VetoBill]

Now now, do not offend the new person to this forum.

Torstars has been running all over this forum, and to my perspective, been subtly trying to throw bombs, however his/her viewpoint could turn out to be true. I have my own thoughts towards the reason torstars is posting but one cannot and should not jump onto them until they make their position quite clear... right torstars?

[torstars]

Here is the rest of the story. The brain and spinal chord go to a rendering plant. In this case it was Baker Commodities, who have indicated that the material is still at their plant in Washington state. They are headquartered in LA and have facilities throughout the US.

After they process the product (including chicken feed), it is sold throughout the world

http://www.usaexporters.net/companyprofile.asp?catID=3200

[torstars]

onto them until they make their position quite clear...

My comments are supported by links which can be readily verified. This isn't rocket science and the facts are quite clear.

[torstars]

there is no definitive proof that this actually IS "Mad Cow"/BSE

The USDA has already held two press conferences and something like 13 countries, including the 4 biggest importers of US beef have banned US beef imports. Even Colorado has banned cattle from Washington state.

The USDA sent the samples to Ames, IA, where the material was tested immunohistochemically. It then underwent additional testing the following day. It was only after Ames, IA had multiple positives that the first news conference was held.

The material was sent to the UK for confirmatory testing. The Holstein had BSE. The test in the UK is just crossing T's and dotting I's.

[tubebender]

This link is closer to the truth about MCD that needs to be reviewed... Where's the Beef

[Wonder Warthog]

"The USDA sent the samples to Ames, IA, where the material was tested immunohistochemically. It then underwent additional testing the following day. It was only after Ames, IA had multiple positives that the first news conference was held."

Based on that, I'll stand corrected. Unfortunately, NO "news story" in any of the news outlets I've seen (including here) has given that level of detail. Where did you get your info??

[VetoBill]

Hey a few days of posting one cannot make their position clear on anything. There have been quite a number of agent provocateurs here who have waited years before making their positions clear... I will withhold my beliefs. It isn't fair to you or this forum to declare you this or that, time will tell.

[VOA]

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.

This is pretty shocking to me.
I had presumed that given the BSE mess in England, Continental Europe and
in Canada, there would be a total ban on allowing ANY PART of ANY ANIMAl even remotely
suspected of even being just clumsy going anyplace but to a testing lab and the rest
into a pit.

I don't think the public has yet really grasped that despite the Dept. of Ag.'s
reassurance, it's NOT a good sign to have even one positive turn up.
Just one says that someone is screwing up in processing of meat products.

And no flames...I know this still means a VERY remote likelihood of human
infection...but if there is a case of one screw-up we KNOW about...
well, as Rumsfeld would say, we've got to think about the "known unknowns".
As in, we know we can't really know that there aren't more cases out there.

[torstars]

Where did you get your info??

I heard both press conferences by the USDA. Video, audio, and transcripts are at www.usda.gov

China has also now banned US beef as the list of contries continues to grow (and the top 4 - Japan, S. Korea, Mexico, and Hong Kong have already announced bans).

There will be another press conference tomorrow.

[meatloaf]

I haven't read torstar's posts on other subjects, but the posts on the mad cow find are accurate. The USDA wouldn't have gone public if they weren't sure there was a problem. Most of the folks here at Free Republic have a poor idea of what BSE is and the implications.

This very evident from some of the questions and the statements posted. Some think mad cow just happens. They're unaware of similar diseases that have been in this country for decades. While the government experts have been saying it BSE couldn't happen here, the concern that many have had since the outbreak in Britain has been justified.

It's here and it's a huge problem beyond what the average man on the street understands at this point. While some of the posts may seem to be attempts to spread panic, that's only because the uninformed reader is unfamiliar with all the info that's available.

Even trying to put a figure on the amount of contaminated meat is impossible at this point. You can't take the single identified downer cow and then extrapolate to how much meat was processed along with that from the cow based on the plants production during the period. The cow didn't wake up one day after the bad fairy zapped it with BSE. That cow has had it for many years. Maybe even from birth.

In the past it wasn't unusual for dairy cows to live fairly long productive lives. With the use of BGH to increase milk production, dairy cows only have a useful life of a few years. That means they get recycled into the food chain long before the disease may have progressed enough for symptoms to show.

Taking into account all the herds and all the facilities that those animals have in common, there's a very real possibility that millions of tons of contaminated meat have already been distributed given the potential time period and number of animals involved.

You can bet you @ss, there's lots of people working overtime on this trying to determine how massive the problem is. Those that say they'll continue to eat beef because the odds of catching brain rot are small, are correct. Only a very small number will die based on the occurances in Britain even if contaminated meat has been entering the supply chain for several years.

[torstars]

This is pretty shocking to me.

I was pretty shocked also. Several days ago the family stopped at a "Steak N Shake" for a change of pace. Most of the family ordered the patty melt. If the BSE story came out a few days earlier, we certainly would have had a change in dinner plans.

[varon]

The contaminated meat has already been consumed and the effect of Mad Cow Disease on humans is evident by just looking at the Democrat presidential candidates ;-)

[Doctor Stochastic]

CJD strikes about 1 in 1,000,000 people randomly. (That's about 300 cases/year in the US.) I don't know if the same holds for cattle.

The problem with BSE is that it jumps species whereas scrapie doesn't.

[torstars]

UK has confirmed BSE in US

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1046598/posts

[Domestic Church]

And then there is the possible/probable contamination of the processing machinery at all the plants involved which could theoretically open the window for spreading this to otherwise clean meat product.

What sort of treatment do these facilities have to complete? Does some form of radiation break down prions?

[little jeremiah]

I am a vegetarian and therefore not worried about contaminated meat for myself - jsut others. But do you know anything about BSE getting into the milk of cows? Is that a likelihood or possibility?

If they would stop feeding cows other groundup cows it would help. But I thought they did stop that horrid practice?

[djreece]

Thank you for all the info.

[Thom Pain]

Do we yet know where the dairies obtain their heating fuel? I'll not be surprised to find that they buy it from a distributor that buys it from a supplier that buys it from a driller who leased his drilling rig from Halliburton which was once run by Dick Chaney; therefore it's Bush's fault!! (/sarcasm off)

[steve86]

But do you know anything about BSE getting into the milk of cows?

I'm sure torstars would concur that evidence shows conclusively that cow's milk is not a source of infection. Animal products show up in many places you would never expect, however, and that is what I am concerned about.

[steve86]

Does some form of radiation break down prions?

Like cockroaches -- very difficult to eliminate even at fairly high energy levels.

[torstars]

What sort of treatment do these facilities have to complete? Does some form of radiation break down prions?

I don't think the machinery will be much of an issue. I think that USDA inspection requires that everything can be fairly easily cleaned at the end of each day, so machinery issues are really well into closing the barn door long after an escape.

If you work through the dates, you will see that it has been many days since the Holstein in question was processed. I believe one of the recalls was for hamburger with a "use by" date of Dec 25, so the product was probably processed almost 2 weeks ago and machinery has been cleaned many times by now.

The real issue will be BSE in other animals, most of which were probably contaminated years ago. That will take so good record keeping and significant effort. My guess is that the 4000 animals at the two sites will be slaughtered and tested.

However, I think that the real effort should be directed at the renderers. They not only get the brains and spinal chords of animals that go to market for human consumption, but also the ones that just die on the farms. These "high risk" animals need to be tested to see if this was an isolated incident or not.

My guess is that this is not isolated, because as soon as the USDA bumped testing up to 20,000, they got a positive, and over 200,000 downers are processed each year for human consumption (I don't know how many just die before slaughter, but suspect it is a large number).

I also suspect many have BSE, but do not have any symptoms, and these animals are rarely tested in the US.

[torstars]

If they would stop feeding cows other groundup cows it would help

There are feed restrictions, but I think that cattle are feed to pigs and chickens, which can then produce feed that gets back to cattle.

I really don't know about milk (or chickens that eat contaminated chicken feed). It certainly looks like prions can be transmitted via blood transfusion, but I don't know about milk or other species like chickens.

[mercy]

I appreciate your honest revelations on this subject. The cattle industry, 3/4ths of both houses of Congress and the Bush adminstration does not. Watch your ass.

[mercy]

****This is pretty shocking to me.
I had presumed that given the BSE mess in England, Continental Europe and
in Canada, there would be a total ban on allowing ANY PART of ANY ANIMAl even remotely
suspected of even being just clumsy going anyplace but to a testing lab and the rest
into a pit****

Yeah, I used to think (prior to 9/11) that the FBI CIA et all did not spend the majority of their time with their heads up their asses either.

Your gubmint is not about helping you it's about controlling you and making money off you.

[torstars]

The cattle industry, 3/4ths of both houses of Congress and the Bush adminstration does not.

I think that this is really the main problem. Too many special interests. However, with a confirmed positive, much more testing will be required to restore confidence, both at home and abroad.

The latest report I saw indicated 23 countries have banned US beef, including the top 4 importers. I think that domestically, many will want to see some sold data before they eat meat. Simply having the USDA say the food supply is safe won't work for many.

At a minimum, the 4000 other dairy cows as well as cows with similar histories on the birth farm will have to be tested. I will be very shocked if they all test negative. I suspect there was a feed problem in the past several years, and the positive Holstein is just the tip of a significant iceberg.

[Domestic Church]

" Animal products show up in many places you would never expect..."

I'm thinking about the children eating jello jigglers, the cans of gravy on the store shelves and such.

[torstars]

I just saw this quote on animal feed and blood, which should be cause for concern:

"In one such case, X-Cel Feeds Inc., of Tacoma, Wash., admitted in a consent decree in July that it violated FDA regulations designed to prevent the possible spread of the disease.

Agriculture officials said that only two out of some 1,800 firms are not in compliance with the ban, a significant improvement since 1997.

Stauber also said he believes the ban is ineffective because it exempts blood from cattle, which Stauber said could transmit mad-cow type diseases. Government officials and industry executives have said there is no evidence that animals can be infected from the blood of other animals."

[VetoBill]

The real issue will be BSE in other animals, most of which were probably contaminated years ago. That will take so good record keeping and significant effort. My guess is that the 4000 animals at the two sites will be slaughtered and tested.

In many areas, animals have to be branded before one can sell an animal. If this farm lies in such an area, tracking down the ownership and other contacts will be cake. Find the owner and you find the cattle in contact with the Holstein. You also limit the feed source potentials. Most feedlots and ranchers feed supplement from local sources. Those local sources can point you to the mills involved.