Mad Cow

After the discovery of the first U.S. case of bovine spongiform encephalophy (BSE), known as "mad cow" disease, more than two dozen countries stopped importing our beef. In the 1990s, 137 Britons died of a variant of mad cow disease, called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, contracted by eating BSE-contaminated beef.

Now American consumers want to know: How did this happen, and are we in danger if we eat U.S. beef? Can mad cow testing be done to alert us to possible contamination?

The quick answer: It is safest to eat beef from cows that were not given conventional feed, which may contain contaminated animal parts. Look for certified organic or grass-fed labels (see box at right). Because mad cow disease is spread by warped proteins that accumulate in the brain and nervous system, the riskiest conventional beef products are brains, neck bones and ground beef, hot dogs and sausage that may use meat mechanically stripped from bones. More than ever, it's important for consumers to know where our food comes from and how it was produced. But we also need better protection than we're getting from a government food safety system that allows contaminated foods, including meat from cows that could have mad cow, to come to market.