Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples says he doesn’t expect the Texas beef industry will be significantly affected by a case of BSE — or mad cow disease – found in a California dairy cow.
The disease was discovered when the cow was selected for random sampling. It did not enter the food supply, and mad cow disease cannot be transmitted through milk.
Still, Staples and those in the Texas beef industry are watching the futures markets closely. Prices dropped immediately after the news of the discovery but rebounded overnight.
“I feel pretty good that we’ll be able to move forward. The fact that there is an all-time low in the number of Texas and U.S. beef herds also indicates that maybe it won’t have an economic impact," said Staples.
So far, countries that import U.S. beef have said that they’re not planning to enact bans. But one major South Korean retailer has stopped selling it for the time being. Staples says he believes the case of mad cow is an isolated incident and that it shows that U.S. protocols are working.
