The Investigation
70
Feds who descended on the Yakima Valley in January 2004
200
Feedlots and farms they visited to track the infected cow’s path
75,000
Cows they researched, via birth records, shipping orders, and sales receipts
25
Cows from the original herd of 81 considered at risk; 11 were never found
704
Cows destroyed, including two calves born to the infected, as a precautionary measure
0
Additional cases
of BSE found
0
Humans sickened
—Then-governor Gary Locke, after the
discovery was made, in an attempt to quell fears about the state’s beef supply
Remind me. What’s mad cow disease again?
Better known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), it’s a degenerative disease that literally eats holes in a cow’s brain and spinal cord.
Yikes. Where does it come from?
No one’s 100 percent sure, but the most common theory is that cows get it by eating tainted feed—made from other livestock, including cows. The USDA banned that form of feed in 1997, though, so in theory it shouldn’t have been an issue here.
If this is a cow disease, why did everyone freak out about it?
Well, technically, humans can get a variant of the disease by eating an infected animal, but only the affected parts—which rarely make it into the food supply. Britain did experience an outbreak in the ’80s, though, that killed about 140 people.
That sounds like a lot. Is it?
Not when you compare it to the 180,000 cattle that were infected.
So the chances of getting it are—
Slim to none. But this is America, and a good old-fashioned food scare sells newspapers.
The Fallout
Breaking the Bank
1,000 slaughterhouse and meat-packing employees lost their jobs
$319 million
50 countries banned U.S. beef = $319 million in lost revenue per month
Fast Food Crash
The day after the cow’s discovery, restaurant stocks tumbled…
▼ McDonald’s [MCD]
Before: $25.28
After: $23.96
▼ Wendy’s [WEN]
Before: $39.66
After: $37.79
▼ Outback Steakhouse [OSI]
Before: $44.63
After: $42.40
The Infected
The Upshot
Mad cow testing increased…
Congress gave the USDA $50 million in 2004 to begin work on a nationwide system for tracking every cow in the country. The rules were finalized in December 2012—almost exactly nine years after No. 6810 was discovered.
Published in the Hidden Seattle issue of Seattle Met.
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