CHARLESTON -- The specter of mad cow disease coming to the U.S. is affecting West Virginians on the farm and at the store.
Gus Douglass, state agriculture commissioner, said he is ready to seize and destroy any suspect cattle or sheep according to regulations from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Such actions have taken place with Vermont sheep and Texas cattle in recent weeks.
"If we find animals that have been fed that (banned animal parts), the animals will be diverted from the food chain," Douglass said of an economic incentive for farmers to avoid questionable practices.
He believes West Virginia and the U.S. can stay free from the fatal neurological disease that has spread to and killed about 100 humans in Europe, as long as the FDA regulations are followed. Since 1997, the use of most mammal proteins in sheep and cattle feed has been banned in the U.S.
In West Virginia, Douglass enforces that ban in a couple ways. First, in addition to the FDA inspections of the companies that make feed, he conducts random sampling at state feed stores and compares the products to their content labels in state laboratories.
"It's basically not there to use," he said of the banned feed. "This makes our regulatory job a lot easier."
He also requires all state livestock markets to get a signed statement from each seller that cattle have not been fed animal fats or parts.
Dr. Lewis Thomas, state veterinarian, said there was also a tremendous hay crop last year and a nice winter, meaning state cows are currently well fed the old-fashioned way and in good overall health.
Thomas said there's no question many West Virginia cattle farmers were using animal parts in their feed before the ban, however.
"It's an economic thing," he said, adding a federal move is afoot to ban the feeding of animal parts to hogs, as well.
Looking at the FDA regulations, Thomas believes the U.S. food supply will stay safe. He said maintaining the same standards nationally is key, although, as beef travel long distances in today's market.
"We send a lot of beef out of state because we don't have those large packing plants here," he said of West Virginia sales. Beef is a $160 million industry annually, according to the state Department of Agriculture.
On a similar note, Douglass said almost all retail beef sold in West Virginia has been raised under U.S. standards even if it did not come from in state -- with the exception of ground beef. Some ground beef is imported as a frozen product from other nations, he said.
Are they buying it?
On the sales end of the economy, the effect of any food scare can be swift and direct, area business owners say. What mad cow is doing locally, however, depends on who's selling.
According to Gary Knoll, a vegetarian who operates Speedway Market in Fairmont, at least a few people are already changing their eating patterns -- at least for now.
"Just yesterday, I had someone come in and they bought $20 of the stuff (soy meat substitute)," said Knoll, noting soy sales have been significantly higher and new customers have been coming in for about two weeks.
Watching the increase, he is planning a taste-testing party in which he will offer samples of prepared soy-based meals later this month.
Area meat sellers, however, say it's business as usual except for a food-industry wide slowdown they connect to a creeping economy.
"I haven't had any customers ask me anything about mad cow disease," said Isaac Thomas, owner of Maple Valley Meat Market in Bridgeport. "I think there's just the mentality that we're the United States of America and there's not going to be a problem."
Like many area meat retailers, Thomas buys his meat through the South Dakota-based Iowa Beef Packers, the largest meat distributor in the world.
The sheer size of that company and the fact it makes beef sellers sign paperwork guaranteeing no animal parts were used in their cattle feed per the FDA regulation is comforting to Thomas.
"I just can't imagine them taking any chance on anything that was diseased," he said of the economic reality of the industry. "Believe me, they don't want this in this country."
Steve Stout, owner of a Clarksburg-based meat wholesale company called Young & Stout, said all his beef comes from that same Western distributor, which exclusively uses U.S. and Canadian cattle.
He also said his sales are unaffected so far.
While Stout is comfortable eating American beef in addition to selling it, he said he would personally avoid eating meat he knew was imported for now.
"I don't know enough about their inspection programs," he said of other nations. "There's a lot of politics involved."
Regional editor Nora Edinger can be reached at 626-1403 or by e-mail at nedinger@exponent-telegram.com.
