BSE/FMD Backgrounders

KLA and the Kansas Beef Council are reassuring consumers and the cattle industry the U.S. BSE surveillance system worked and the beef supply in this country is still the safest in the world.

     NCBA, KLA and the Kansas Beef Council (KBC) established maintaining consumer confidence as the number one priority when USDA announced the discovery of BSE December 23. With 90% of U.S. beef consumed domestically, it was absolutely essential for NCBA, KLA and KBC to reassure consumers about the safety of beef. If domestic consumer confidence were lost, the 15% to 20% drop in cattle values that occurred, mostly attributable to the loss of exports, could have been much worse. A consistent message delivered by the three groups and other agricultural partners successfully reassured U.S. consumers the system worked, allowing them to continue eating beef with confidence.
     As evidence, a checkoff-funded consumer survey conducted December 29-30 showed public awareness of BSE at an all-time high, yet confidence in the safety of beef remained strong. An unprecedented 96% of Americans surveyed recently had heard something about the disease. At the same time, 89% of respondents to the independent survey said they were confident U.S. beef is safe from BSE, which is statistically unchanged from results of a similar survey conducted September 30, 2003.
     The three organizations reached consumers through hundreds of interviews with reporters, stories on the respective web site for each and news releases sent to thousands of media. In addition, NCBA and KBC sent information about the safety of beef to marketing partners and decision- makers including supermarkets, restaurants, specialty meat shops, dietitians, school foodservice personnel and others. These contacts, in turn, used the information when interacting directly with consumers.

Following are some of the key points distributed by NCBA, KLA and KBC.

Over the past decade, the U.S. has developed one of the most stringent, comprehensive BSE prevention plans in the world.
The U.S. has taken aggressive steps to protect consumers and prevent the disease from entering or occurring, including the following:

1985 - U.S. banned beef imports from the United Kingdom.

1989 - U.S. banned imports of ruminant animals and ruminant products from countries with confirmed BSE cases.

1991 - U.S. banned imports of ruminant meat and edible products and most by products of ruminant origin from countries with confirmed BSE cases.

1997 - U.S. banned imports of all live ruminants and most ruminant products from all European countries, regardless of BSE status. Any products excluded from the ban have been scientifically determined not to have a risk of carrying the BSE infectious agent.

1997 - U.S. banned the use of ruminant meat and bone meal in cattle feed.

2000 - U.S. banned imports of all rendered animal protein products, regardless of species, from all European countries.

Active surveillance has been ongoing since 1990. Food Safety and Inspection Service personnel condemn and test any animal suspected of having a central nervous system disorder. As part of the diagnostic effort, veterinary practitioners have been trained to spot clinical signs of the disease.

Results of a USDA-funded study at Harvard University show the measures taken by the U.S. government and industry make the U.S. robust against the spread of BSE to animals or humans.

For more information about BSE, see www.bseinfo.org

Related News Releases:

KAHD News Release
KVMA News Release

Foot-and-Mouth Disease Q&A

Q: What is foot-and-mouth disease?

A: It is a highly infectious viral disease of animals and also may be called hoof-and-mouth disease. Caused by a virus, it affects cloven-hoofed animals such as cattle, swine, sheep, goats, and deer, often causing epidemics. The disease is characterized by a sudden rise in temperature, followed by an eruption of blisters occurring in the mouth, on areas of tender skin such as the udder in females, and on the feet; blisters may also appear in the nostrils. Salivation and frequent smacking of the lips accompany the eruption. The blisters grow larger and then break, exposing raw, eroded surfaces. Eating becomes difficult and painful, and because the soft tissues under the hoof are inflamed, the animal invariably becomes lame and may shed its hooves. Livestock raised for meat lose much weight, and dairy cattle and goats give less milk. Often the disease kills very young animals and causes pregnant females to abort.

Q: How do you spot it? How do you spot it?

A: An animal usually suffers fever and develops blisters, mainly in its mouth or on its feet. The most obvious symptoms are going off feed, severe slobbering, rapid weight loss and lameness. Symptoms can also include shivering, reduced milk yield, sore teats, stiff-legged gait and increased time lying down.
There are seven main types of the disease, which have similar symptoms. The average incubation period is between three and eight days but it can be shorter or may be up to two weeks or longer. The virus responsible for the present outbreak in the UK has been identified as the highly virulent pan-Asiatic O type. When animals recover from infection by one type of the virus they are left with little protection against the others.

Q: How does foot-and-mouth disease spread?

A: The disease spreads by infected animals, contaminated people or even vehicles or other contaminated inanimate objects. Meat from animals, which were infected when slaughtered, can also transmit the virus to animals and previous outbreaks have been linked to imports of infected meat. Infected animals, particularly pigs, also excrete the virus several days before symptoms develop so virus particles can be dispersed by the wind. There is documentation that the virus has traveled airborne as far as 156 miles.

Q: Can people get the disease from animals? Can people get the disease from animals?

A: It is not believed to readily affect humans. There was one recorded case in Britain in 1966. The effects of the disease for that person were similar to flu with some blisters. The British Food Standards Agency says the disease has no implications for the human food chain. People, however, can spread the virus to animals because it can harbor in human nasal passages for as long as 28 hours and has been known to persist on contaminated clothing for 10-12 weeks.

Q: Which animals are susceptible to foot-and-mouth disease? Which animals are susceptible to foot-and-mouth disease?

A: Pigs, cattle, sheep and goats on farms, some wild animals including hedgehogs, rats and deer and some zoo animals, including elephants, giraffes and antelopes. Horses are not affected.

Q: How do you get rid of foot-and-mouth disease?

A: The virus can be killed off by heat, low humidity, or some disinfectants. It is only rarely fatal although it is more likely to kill very young animals. There is no cure for it and it usually runs its course in two or three weeks with most animals recovering, although some animals take up to six months to fully recover.

Q: If most animals don't die why go to such great lengths to eradicate it?

A: The disease is highly contagious with nearly 100 percent of exposed animals becoming infected. If the disease became widespread in any country there would be disastrous economic consequences. For example, the most serious effects of the disease in dairy cattle are loss of milk yield, abortion, sterility, chronic mastitis and chronic lameness.

Q: Which other countries have suffered outbreaks of foot-and-mouth? Which other countries have suffered outbreaks of foot-and-mouth?

A: Among those affected in the last year are Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Kuwait, Malawi, Malaysia, Mongolia, Namibia, Russia, South Africa, Uruguay and Zambia. The last major outbreak of the disease in an EU country was in Greece last year. Foot-and-mouth is endemic in parts of Africa, Asia, the Middle East and South America.
The United States has experienced nine distinct epizootics; the most serious occurred in 1914, invading 22 states and the District of Columbia. The last outbreak, which occurred in California in 1929, was quickly controlled.

Q: How does the U.S. guard against this disease?

A: USDA has a foot-and-mouth disease eradication program. Information about that program can be found at http://www.aphis.usda.gov:80/bad/refbook2000/FMD-FAD.pdf .
The U.S. Department of Agriculture inspects all imported livestock, stock feed, and bedding at all points of entry. The department is strict in enforcing quarantine regulations. It also is important that persons traveling to countries with foot-and-mouth disease not bring back food products (lunches, etc.) to the U.S.
Considerable progress has been made toward developing an effective vaccine against foot-and-mouth disease, but the cost (approximately $1 billion annually) of vaccinating all susceptible animals would be prohibitive. In addition, several strains of the virus exist and cross-protection against other strains following vaccination is limited, reducing the effectiveness. Moreover, the vaccine would not eradicate the disease. Consequently, the slaughter of all exposed animals is the only presently effective countermeasure to foot-and-mouth disease. During the outbreak in the United Kingdom in 1967 and 1968, for example, more than 430,000 animals were slaughtered.

Q: Would livestock producers be reimbursed for animals lost due to required depopulation?

A: USDA officials have told NCBA and KLA leadership a plan is in place to financially compensate livestock owners for losses due to a foot and mouth outbreak. The U.S. secretary of agriculture and Kansas Animal Health Department have the authority to seize, quarantine and dispose of any livestock found to be affected or exposed to the disease. In such an emergency, producers would receive indemnity payments based on fair market value. Funding would come from a combination of state and federal sources, with 100% of fair market value coming from one source or another. Foot and Mouth Disease indemnity payments would be based on fair market value BEFORE any price decline associated with the disease. Assistance would also be available through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which exists to help in cases of natural disaster.

Q: Is foot-and-mouth disease present in Canada or Mexico?

A: To the best of our knowledge, foot-and-mouth disease has not been diagnosed in our neighboring countries for about 50 years.

NCBA - March 2, 2001

For more information about FMD, see: www.fmdinfo.org or www.beef.org/newsroom/FMD or www.oznet.ksu.edu/fmd or

Related News Releases:

KAHD News Release
KVMA News Release