Beef Recalled Over Mad Cow Fears

Lynne Terry is reporting for the Oregonian that the North Dakota-based North American Bison Co-op is recalling 250,000 pounds of beef because of mad cow disease fears.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) says that North American Bison Co-op shipped whole beef heads that had tongues attached. The concern is that the tonsils may not have been removed from the beef heads. Out of fears of spreading Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE or mad cow disease), tongues of all cattle must be removed before beef can be sold.

Tongues are considered a specified risk material by the USDA because they are "known to contain the infective agent in cattle infected with Bovine Spongiform Encephaloparthy (BSE), as well as materials that are closely associated with these potentially infective tissues," according to the USDA news release. USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service prohibits the use of specified risk materials in human food to minimize potential exposure to BSE. Mad cow disease "can cause a deadly brain wasting disease in humans."

The heads in question were shipped to distribution centers in Maryland, Michigan, and Minnesota, and the heads were produced sometime between June 25, 2009 and February 19, 2010. According to the Oregonian story, the cases are labeled "'Beef Heads KEEP FROZEN,"' and have an establishment number of "'EST. 18859."' "'North Dakota Natural Beef' is printed in the bottom left-hand corner of each label."

To see the USDA news release on the recall, click here.
To read the Terry article click here.

Posted: 04/06/10