The 4,000 pounds of recalled beef with the potential risk of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSW) otherwise known as mad cow disease may have been caused by the failure of the distributor of the beef in removing the dorsal root ganglia. These are branches of the cow’s central nervous system along the spine. If a cow is infected with BSE, this is where the infected tissues would be located.
Federal Regulations require that this area be removed from cattle more than 30 months old. According to the USDA, this procedure was not followed for the beef in question. Thursday morning the USDA announced that a Whole Foods distribution center in Connecticut that serves stores in New England, received the potentially tainted beef. The affected stores are located in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine and Rhode Island.
The meat was processed at Fruitland American Meat in Missouri and distributed to a Whole Foods distribution center in Connecticut, which services the Whole Foods New England stores. People who consume the meat tained with mad cow disease could develop a fatal disease called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). Early symptoms of the disease are depression and loss of coordination. Later in the illness dimentia develops.
