On December 23, 2003, a U.S. dairy cow was diagnosed with mad cow disease for the first time in the United States.
Mad cow disease is a brain degenerating disorder that eats holes in the central nervous system of cattle. Bovine Spnigiform Encephalopathy (BSE) is the scientific name for mad cow disease.
Cows get BSE from eating bonemeal, which consists of animal remains. The use of bonemeal was banned from the United States in 1997.
When humans eat beef that is infected with BSE they contract Creutzfeldt-Jakob, which mocks the symptoms of mad cow disease.
At Southern University, the food services committee reevaluated their distribution of beef last year said Leroy Claborn retail manager of the Jaguar Express.
“About one year ago we stopped ordering beef and began ordering ground turkey for the meat loaf,” said Claborn, “the only beef we use is for the philly cheese steak, but that is processed beef.”
Michael Michael, a freshman from Lake Charles majoring in marine biology, is not worried about the mad cow disease because we did not find it in Louisiana.
“As of right now I am not taking any precautions because we have not heard of anything around here. If it gets closer to Louisiana it will start affecting people and they probably won’t be eating beef anymore,” said Michael.
Some students have decided to shun away from the beef in fear of contracting the deadly disease BSE.
Walter Kornajey senior biology major from Little Rock, Arkansas said “I am just not going to be eating beef for a while.”
