Cold Cash Follows Mad Cow
We’re coming up on the 5th anniversary of the discovery of Mad Cow disease in the United States. It came here with an unfortunate little cow from Canada that found its way to Washington State.
It ended, for a long time, U.S beef exports. The cost to the U.S. economy? $6 billion a year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Somewhat less, according to Kansas State University..gif)
Now U.S. beef is getting back in the overseas pipeline. Last May, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) cleared U.S. beef from animals of any age as a “controlled BSE risk” and therefore safe for export.
BSE, of course, is Bovine spongiform encephalopathy---science’s name for Mad Cow Disease. Other countries with controlled BSE risk include Brazil, Canada, Chile, Switzerland, and Taiwan.
If you are looking for countries with less BSE risk, you might want to look at beef from Australia, Argentina, New Zealand, Singapore, and Uruguay. Those countries have “negligible” BSE risk, according to the OIE.
Russia, however, is looking to cut a deal for genuine U.S. beef. With its pockets filled with dollars from selling us oil at near $100 per barrel, Russia wants some pricey cuts of U.S. beef, according to a Dec. 3, 2007 report in the Wall Street Journal. (“From Mad Cow to Cash Cow).
WSJ reported that before it banned U.S. beef, Russians mostly consumed cheaper cuts, livers, hearts, and kidneys. Now, Russia in the market for more expensive beef cuts.
One thing is for certain, however. It will be a long time before U.S. beef makes up for the mistake it made when it brought that little cow over the Canadian border.
