The American beef industry has been struggling with one crisis after another in recent months, but industry officials say the U.S. beef supply is safe.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - First, a severe drought in the Southwest cut cattle herds to their lowest level in more than 60 years.
Then an intense controversy erupted over a common type of filler known as "lean finely textured beef" or "pink slime," hurting ground beef sales.
On Tuesday, the Agriculture Department announced BSE, or mad cow disease, had been found in a California dairy cow.
The USDA says there was no threat to public health as the cow wasn't headed for the food supply, and the beef industry is working hard to spread that message on its websites and through the media.
After an outbreak of mad cow disease in 2003, beef exports plunged from $3.6 billion that year to $809 million in 2004.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Nebraska beef producers seem to have dodged a bullet when a single case of mad cow disease was discovered in a dead dairy cow in California.
Nebraska Beef Council Executive Director Anne Marie Bosshamer says it appears the discovery hasn't hurt beef sales.
Anne Marie Bosshamer
News of the case sent live cattle future tumbling, but they have rebounded after America's tradiing partners promised not to cut back on
American beef imports.
(Courtesy of The Nebraska Radio Network. All Rights Reserved.)
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