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Mad Cow Disease Doesn't Worry U.S. Beefeaters

July 29, 2005
The latest mad cow case confirmed by the government did not cause Americans to be more worried about the disease, a survey finds.

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On June 24th the U.S. government confirmed a second case of mad cow disease in the U.S. The NPD Group’s Food Safety Monitor found that most adults have heard or read something about mad cow disease (98%).

About three out of four adults knew that a second cow was diagnosed with the disease, but only 22 percent of adults were very worried about mad cow disease -- up 3 percentage points from a month before the recent announcement. That’s well below the 11 percentage point increase in consumer concern recorded after the 1st case of mad cow discovered in December of 2003.

Prior to the first infected cow being identified in the U.S., approximately 15 percent of all adults were very concerned about mad cow disease. Right after the 2003 announcement, concern rose to 26 percent.

Perhaps more important is that through both of these announcements, NPD’s Food Safety Monitor, which tracks food safety concerns and eating intentions in the U.S., found that people’s intentions to eat steak didn’t change.

“During the last five years we’ve been tracking food safety and beef consumption patterns it’s clear that there are more pricing and seasonal influences on how much beef people eat, than food safety concerns,” said Harry Balzer, vice president of The NPD Group.

Beef is one of the top foods Americans eat at home or at restaurants. About nine out of ten (89%) adults eat steak regularly. After the 2nd confirmed case of mad cow disease NPD’s numbers show 64 percent of adults don’t plan on changing their eating habits of steak, while 12 percent plan to eat less steak in the next 30 days and 13 percent plan to eat more. These levels have shifted very little over the past five years.

“If there’s been any trend, it has been toward more people eating steak during the past 5 years,” said Balzer. “This is not to suggest that mad cow disease isn’t a serious issue. If we ever see herds of cows with this disease and start having the bovine bonfires seen in Britain a few years ago, then expect a change in consumer behavior, but not with the limited scale seen at this time, ” said Balzer.

Mad cow disease has never been the number one food safety issue in the U.S. Salmonella and E. Coli have consistently remained the top two concerns for Americans. About 25 percent of adults tell NPD they are extremely/very concerned about E. Coli and salmonella.

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