Study Finds Meat With Spinal Cord

A U.S. Agriculture Department study found spinal cord and marrow in meat processed by high-tech equipment that strips meat from bone and said it would move quickly to squash a potential problem in food safety. The study was prompted by concerns raised about the meat product churned out by high-tech deboning equipment. Consumer groups have pressed for barring beef companies from processing spinal cord, citing a risk so-called mad cow disease could get into the nation’s food supply. They argue that aside from the brain, the spinal cord is the most infectious part of an animal with BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy), mad cow disease.