WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said on Wednesday she believed the mad cow case found in Washington state will be restricted to a single or small number of cows but that the government has recalled meat from plants that could have processed the animal.
A single case of the animal brain-wasting disease was discovered this month in a dairy cow near Mabton, Washington, the first case ever detected in the United States. Several key importers halted shipments of U.S. beef.
Veneman, appearing on several U.S. television morning news programs, acknowledged it was possible that other cases will be detected but said the United States has taken safety measures since 1990 to minimize the risk.
"We believe it will be either an isolated case or a small number of cases," she said on ABC's "Good Morning America.
She noted that an earlier case found in Canada was restricted to a single animal.
Veneman said the brain and spinal cord of the Washington dairy cow had been removed and that mad cow disease is not known to be transmitted from the muscle cuts of meat.
Some 137 humans are known to have died from a variant of the disease that is transmitted by consuming meat from an animal with mad cow.
On Tuesday, the Agriculture Department said it would likely announce a meat recall as early as Wednesday as a precaution.
"We have put out a recall notice for the lots that were processed at this plant that day and we're tracing it forward to determine where it is and recalling that particular beef from that plant," Veneman told the CBS "Early Show."
"We are in an abundance of caution, beginning as of last night a recall of that product, tracing forward to see where that product went," she said on NBC's "Today."
She said it was too early to predict the economic impact.
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A single case of the animal brain-wasting disease was discovered this month in a dairy cow near Mabton, Washington, the first case ever detected in the United States. Several key importers halted shipments of U.S. beef.
Veneman, appearing on several U.S. television morning news programs, acknowledged it was possible that other cases will be detected but said the United States has taken safety measures since 1990 to minimize the risk.
"We believe it will be either an isolated case or a small number of cases," she said on ABC's "Good Morning America.
She noted that an earlier case found in Canada was restricted to a single animal.
Veneman said the brain and spinal cord of the Washington dairy cow had been removed and that mad cow disease is not known to be transmitted from the muscle cuts of meat.
Some 137 humans are known to have died from a variant of the disease that is transmitted by consuming meat from an animal with mad cow.
On Tuesday, the Agriculture Department said it would likely announce a meat recall as early as Wednesday as a precaution.
"We have put out a recall notice for the lots that were processed at this plant that day and we're tracing it forward to determine where it is and recalling that particular beef from that plant," Veneman told the CBS "Early Show."
"We are in an abundance of caution, beginning as of last night a recall of that product, tracing forward to see where that product went," she said on NBC's "Today."
She said it was too early to predict the economic impact.
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