Recalled beef's trip to Islands complex

• Tracking the whereabouts of a diseased cow

By Deborah Adamson
Advertiser Staff Writer

How could meat from a lone infected cow from a Mabton, Wash., farm possibly have made its way thousands of miles across the ocean to Hawai'i?

Meat from the cow was included in shipments of beef being recalled in eight states, including Hawai'i.

The story unfolds on Dec. 9 when a wobbly Holstein from the Sunny Dene dairy farm was slaughtered at Vern's Moses Lake Beef Co. in Moses Lake, Wash.

The 6 1/2-year-old cow had difficulty walking, having been injured in the process of giving birth. Since older cows are at greater risk of contracting bovine spongiform encephalopathy, also known as mad cow disease, the cow's brain, spinal cord and lower intestine were removed for tests.

Before the test results came back, the Holstein and 19 other cows slaughtered at Vern's were sent to Midway Meats in Centralia, Wash., for deboning.

Afterward, the beef headed for Interstate Meat in Clackamas, Ore., and Willamette Valley Meat in Portland, Ore., for processing.

The meat was sold to 42 distributors, who then sold it in Guam and eight states, including Hawai'i. Their clients include restaurants, groceries, food service companies and small businesses.

On Dec. 22 and Dec. 23, the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed that the Mabton cow tested positive for mad cow disease. About 10,000 pounds of meat was recalled on Christmas Eve.

Yesterday, the USDA would not disclose the names of the 42 distributors and was still attempting to track down the identity or identities of the distributors' Hawai'i clients.

Hawai'i's largest supermarkets said they don't buy from these distributors. And big companies such as fast-food chains should also be safe since they use their own dedicated meat plants, said Dan Murphy, a spokesman with the American Meat Institute, an industry trade group.

USDA officials have said the meat from the infected cow posed "essentially zero risk" to humans.

USDA inspectors are on hand from slaughter to processing. A company that sells products in many states would have to be federally inspected while those selling only within a state are monitored by state officials.

Federal inspectors check the slaughterhouses and processing plants daily before operations can start, the USDA said. "It's a pretty thorough process," Murphy said.

Still, the diseased Holstein slipped through the cracks.

Since the parts most likely to be affected by the disease were taken out, muscle meat from the cow could be processed.

"They should have held back the meat until the tests came back," Murphy said.

The Holstein, which may have been infected by eating contaminated feed, was born in April 1997 before stricter bans on feed were in place. Later in the year, federal laws prohibited ruminants — cud-chewing hooved animals such as cattle, sheep, goats — from eating feed with ground-up byproducts of other ruminants.

Mad cow disease is thought to spread when these animals ingest infected brains or spinal cords. The animal byproducts usually aren't included in the human food supply but can be mixed into animal feed and pet food, Murphy said.

Federal officials haven't yet recalled any pet food.

Hawai'i residents still can enjoy Spam, which is made out of pork, said Hormel Foods spokeswoman Julie Craven. She added that beef for Hormel's canned corned beef is from South America.

Reach Deborah Adamson at dadamson@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8088.