-Caveat Lector-
French Uneasy After 1,000
Tons Possible Mad Cow
Beef Put In Markets
10-23-00
PARIS (AFP) - There was growing unease in
France Monday about the risks of mad cow disease
after the revelation that a thousand tonnes of
potentially contaminated meat had been put on the
market earlier his month.
The news coincided with the announcement of more
cases of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)
in the French herd, confirming a sharp upward trend
detected since the start of the year.
The latest case was discovered in a herd of cattle in
the Loire department and brought to 73 the number
of affected animals found since January -- almost
the same figure as for the entire period since the
disease first appeared in 1991.
The public was also sharply reminded of the
continuing dangers of the disease -- and its human
version Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease -- by a decision
two weeks ago to ban the use of bovine intestines
in sausage production because of fears they could
carry the infection.
And last week it was reported that fraud inspectors
were continuing to tolerate very low levels of
banned animal meal -- considered the most
probable vector for the disease -- within foodstuffs
given to cattle.
The supermarket chain Carrefour was operating a
telephone hotline Monday to reassure anxious
customers who bought the high-risk beef from 39 of
its stores mainly in northern France.
The company said it would be a civil plaintiff in the
criminal prosecution being launched against
cattle-dealer Claude Demeulenaere who is
suspected of trying to hide a cow with BSE within a
healthy herd which he was sending to slaughter.
Veterinary officials at the abattoir in Normandy,
western France, spotted the sick animal, which was
separated from the rest of the cattle, but it was then
revealed that 13 other animals from the cow's
original herd had already been sold to Carrefour.
In France, all cattle from a stricken cow's herd are
automatically slaughtered because of fears they
could also be infected.
Over the week-end Carrefour withdrew all meat
recently produced by the abattoir from supermarket
shelves and issued an urgent appeal for customers
to return meat already bought.
Veterinary officials sought to calm the public
Monday, pointing out that none of the other animals
from the herd showed symptoms of BSE, and that
officials at the abattoir had shown their
effectiveness by spotting the sick cow.
But Jeanne Brugere-Picoux, cattle specialist at the
Alfort Veterinary School in Paris, said that fraud and
the difficulty of diagnosing BSE meant that
inevitably some infected cattle were entering the
food-chain.
"If a farmer is so minded, and he's quick enough,
then if he spots the very first signs of BSE, he can
send it to the abattoir without anyone noticing," she
said.
She called for spot checks at slaughter-houses to
discourage unscrupulous cattle-dealers.
No test yet exists for analysing live beasts for BSE,
but since June France has put into place a
nationwide detection programme on so-called "fallen
stock" -- animals which die in accidents or which are
slaughtered after showing unusual symptoms.
The test programme, which will eventually cover
48,000 animals, has so far detected 25 new cases,
which partly explains the big increase registered
nationally this year.
Brugere-Picoux said she was untroubled by the
sharp rise. "It was totally predictable. As soon as
you put in place a pro-active surveillance plan, you
will find more cases.
"France is discovering more infected animals
because it has had the courage to look. If other
countries did the same, there would be some
surprises," she said.
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