U.S. Increases Testing of Cattle

Federal inspectors will step up testing of U.S. cattle for “mad cow disease,” which may be linked to a deadly illness among humans in Britain.

The Department of Agriculture already checks cattle before slaughter for signs of the disease and has found no cases, a department spokeswoman said Monday.

“There’s no evidence of this disease in this country,” said Jacque Knight, spokeswoman for the Food Safety and Inspection Service, “but we believe the prudent approach is to watch and gather all information we can.”

No British beef has been imported into the United States since 1989. And federal inspectors already check all cattle brought to slaughterhouses for signs of neurological disorders, including “mad cow disease,” rabies and milk fever.

In addition, at many slaughterhouses, brain tissue is taken from a sampling of suspect cattle for laboratory testing. The number of samples taken will be increased.

Knight could not estimate the cost of the extra tests but said no more inspectors will be needed.

Separately, the U.S. beef industry is considering as an option a promotional campaign in Europe touting American beef as free of the disease, an export official said.

“We’ll look at all the options, and that’d certainly be one of them on the table,” said Thad Lively, economist at the U.S. Meat Export Federation, an association of U.S. meat exporters based in Denver.