Infection not expected to affect U.S.
Marriott sets ‘high standards’ on beef served to university

By Chrissy Braden
Staff Reporter

Recent scares in mad-cow disease and foot-and-mouth disease have left people less concerned with where the beef is and more concerned about where the beef is coming from.

Rick Flores, general manager of Sodexho Marriott Services, said Marriott keeps high standards for its products, and recent beef scares in Europe are unlikely at TCU or in the United States.

“We have vendors that we have to use because our company mandates that, and we inspect the places where all of these things are coming from,” Flores said. “We, as a company, are strict on who we order from and how it’s produced.”

Carla Everett, Texas Animal Health Commission information officer, said people have a legitimate concern in wondering where their beef is coming from and how safe it is.

Everett said the recent outbreaks of the diseases in Europe have heightened Americans’ worries about beef.

She said foot-and-mouth disease is a bigger concern than mad-cow disease right now because it affects so many species.

“It’s easy to prevent (mad-cow disease) by not feeding animals contaminants,” she said. “But foot-and-mouth is hard to prevent because it can come in on someone’s clothing or (belongings).”

Foot-and-mouth disease is caused by a highly infectious virus that can cause death or disabling blisters and sores in and around the mouth, muzzle, teats and feet of livestock with cloven or “split” hooves, according to a news release from the Texas Animal Health Commission.

“To stop the spread of infection, affected or exposed animals must be slaughtered, then burned or buried,” the news release stated.
Everett said the disease is not harmful to humans, but the decrease in production from livestock can be detrimental.

She said most people are unaware of how to handle possibly infected animals because the last foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in the country was in 1929.

“If someone sees an animal limping or drooling, they should wear gloves when inspecting it,” she said.

Allen Spelce, spokesman for the Texas Department of Agriculture, said he thought the United States was doing what it should in handling the outbreaks.

“I feel that we have the proper procedures in place,” he said. “We’re not taking any chances.”

Spelce said the majority of cattle being killed because of mad-cow disease don’t have the disease, but are being destroyed because of public perception.

Mad-cow disease, also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, is a chronic degenerative disorder affecting the central nervous system of cattle, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Web site (www.fda.gov).

The disorder, which was first found in Great Britain in 1986, rots the human brain and is only found in the brain tissue, spinal cord and the retina of cattle.

Jim Link, director of Ranch Management, said the recent scares with mad-cow disease are a resurrection of a group of 36 cattle exposed to the disease before leaving Europe for the United States in 1996 and 1997.

According to a March 29 Associated Press article, the 21 remaining cattle from that group were sent to College Station, where they will be killed.

Link said many cattle are probably being killed unnecessarily, but he said safety must be a primary concern.

“It’s better to err on safety and take precaution than possibly lose lives,” he said.

Chrissy Braden
l.c.braden@student.tcu.edu