Fast Food Industry & Mad Cow Disease

In late 2003, an American cow was found to have bovine spongiform encephalopathy, more commonly known as mad cow disease. Until that time, the disease had been largely restricted to Europe, and considerable concern had been raised regarding the export of cows and meat that might be contaminated. No other cows have been located that have the disease--which can spread to humans in some rare cases after ingesting meat from infected animals--and the cow that was originally found to have the disease came from a Canadian herd. Nonetheless, fast food companies quickly responded to the announcement that the cow had the disease since even the perception of a tainted beef supply could cause severe upheaval in their business.

The problem that fast food companies faced was the public perception that the beef supply was tainted because of the cow found to have mad cow disease. If the public perceived that the public beef supply was infected with a potentially deadly disease, hamburger sales would plummet and the fast food companies would have a disaster on their ha