The price we pay to have this infrastructure in place is nothing compared to the downside of this getting out of control. Missouri accounts for 2.4 percent of the revenue. Britain has slaughtered about 1 percent of its beef cattle, sheep and hogs. Domestic meat prices would probably fall, creating a loss for producers. Consumer demand might also fall, creating pressure on meat prices and affecting restaurant and grocery sales.
Scientists identify seven main varieties of the virus.
Hay imported from China may have been a factor in outbreaks in Korea and Japan. Vaccination can stem the disease, but this route shuts down a country's meat industry for months because it is difficult to distinguish inoculated animals from those carrying the virus. The first case in Britain was confirmed Feb. 20 in pigs in a slaughterhouse in northern England. Two flocks of sheep in Vermont were seized recently because the U.S. Department of Agriculture fears they might have had mad cow disease. They were taken to Ames, Iowa, slaughtered and tested.