The United States today battled the fallout from its first case of mad cow disease as the world's leading importers slapped bans on American beef and nervous investors punished fast-food giant McDonald's.
In a huge blow for the $27 billion US cattle industry, Japan and South Korea, the top two buyers of US beef, swiftly halted imports along with Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Russia, Ukraine, South Africa and Chile.
US Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman urged Americans not to panic, saying the risk to their health was extremely low.
"I plan to serve beef for my Christmas dinner," she said.
Europe, whose herds were devastated by the brain-wasting disorder in the 1990s, said it was keeping a close eye on the case, but it was not considering tightening protective measures already in place for years.
The 15-nation European Union has long banned the import of most US beef because of health concerns over cattle treated with growth hormones, allowing in a limited quantity of the meat from the United States.
Britain offered the United States its expertise in battling the disease which forced British farmers to destroy about 3.7 million cattle in the 1990s to try to rid the food chain of material infected with BSE.
BSE refers to bovine spongiform encephalopathy and scientists believe people can contract a form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease known as vCJD from eating beef products infected by BSE, such as diseased brain or spinal column material.
At least 137 people have died of vCJD, mostly in Britain, all linked to eating beef or having received blood or tissue transplants from vCJD patients.
Alarm over the disease pressured share prices of fast-food companies today, fanned fears humans could become infected, and raised the spectre of mass cattle culls similar to those carried out in Europe.
McDonald's, the world's largest fast-food company, said in a statement its supply chain "has no connection whatsoever" to the farm in Washington state where a sample of a diseased cow tested positive on December 9th.
But that didn't stop shares in McDonald's Holdings Co Ltd (Japan), Japan's biggest restaurant chain, taking a big hit and dipping more than three per cent.