A report from the Ottawa Citizen says that because only 13 slaughterhouses provide most of the ground beef for the entire nation, contamination problems can conceivably sicken large numbers of consumers. Indeed, such a centralized system for animal feed, rendering and distribution of fast food helped to spread mad cow disease in Europe, Schlosser adds. That raises the possibility that the disease could quickly spread to cattle in America and put burger eaters at a small but real risk of developing Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the human form of the illness. So far, mad cow disease hasn't been spotted in North America. If it does show up, there's no guarantee it won't find its way into the food chain.
Regulations exist to prevent mad cow disease from spreading if contamination ever occurs.
In January, however, the Food and Drug Administration had to issue warnings to hundreds of animal-feed producers who violated the rules. A wire service story from the Milwaukee Sentinel-Herald has the details. All rights reserved.