Part 3 of 3: How Now, Mad Cow?

How great a threat does the first U.S. mad cow case pose to foodservice sales

By Allison Perlik, Senior Editor -- Restaurants & Institutions, 3/1/2004

It takes more than a flurry of media attention, tightened cattle-related regulations and foreign bans on U.S. beef imports to tame Americans’ appetites for all things bovine. Despite the discovery of the first U.S.-based case of mad cow disease in late December 2003, Reed Research Group/R&I’s Food Safety Report 2004 finds a healthy confidence on the part of consumers in the country’s beef supply.

“Americans feel the food supply is fairly safe, and it doesn’t change that much despite all these things that have happened over the last two and a half years,” says Harry Balzer, vice president of Port Washington, N.Y.-based market-information company The NPD Group. He notes that issues such as terrorist threats, foodborne-illness outbreaks and mad cow discoveries tend to have little impact on overall confidence regarding food safety.

Reed Research Group’s study bears out this theory, with more than half (53%) of consumers reporting that they are very confident in the safety of beef in the United States. An additional 40% say they are somewhat confident. Votes of no confidence come from only 7% of the respondents.

Beef safety is one worry that appears to diminish as income rises. Among respondents with annual household incomes of $100,000 or more, 70% say they are very confident in the beef they consume. Respondents with household incomes of $25,000 or less are more uncertain: 36% are very confident and 10% say they are not at all confident.

Between the genders, the study finds that male respondents prove more likely to feel they are not at risk, with 64% categorizing themselves as very confident. In contrast, 49% of women say they are very confident in the safety of eating beef.

Taking stock
Recent news from beef-heavy restaurant concepts also suggests a lack of consumer concern, with companies such as Oak Brook, Ill.-based McDonald’s Corp. and Atlanta-based Rare Hospitality International rebounding quickly from initial declines of stock share prices and posting robust sales in early 2004.

Such results come as little surprise given that a full two-thirds of respondents polled for Reed Research Group/R&I’s Food Safety Report 2004 say they did not change their beef-consumption habits following the Dec. 23 discovery in the United States of mad cow—known clinically as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)—and have no plans to do so, assuming no additional cases are discovered.

“Even in the short term consumers have not been very concerned about BSE,” says Christine Bruhn, director of the Center for Consumer Research at the University of California, Davis. “I believe that is because they hear a consistent message that is backed by science that these infectious materials are not transferred by muscle tissue but by spinal cord and brains, and most people are not consuming those products.”

More than half (53%) of the survey’s respondents say they agree with the statement, “The chance of contracting mad cow disease is too low to worry me.” However, that confidence is not necessarily a result of consumers’ trust in foodservice operators’ food-safety dedication: Only 16% agree with the statement, “I’m not worried about mad cow disease because restaurants effectively monitor food they serve.”

Consumers in the lowest household-income bracket are most likely to agree that restaurants effectively shield them from mad cow. Nearly one in five (18%) with incomes of $25,000 or less agree with the statement, versus 11% of those whose incomes are between $75,000 and $100,000.

More than one-third (39%) of consumers say they intend to closely monitor news reports about the disease, but few are changing how they eat. Less likelihood of ordering a hamburger away from home is indicated by 20% of the sample while 19% say they are less likely to order any beef dish. On both questions, women are slightly more likely to say they have changed their dining habits than are men.

Proposed protection measure delayed

While U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman has sought to improve safeguards against BSE by issuing several new regulations regarding how cattle are handled, another proposed protection measure has been postponed.

The U.S. Senate signed a spending bill in January that pushes back until 2006 the deadline for the country-of-origin labeling requirement, which calls for labeling that shows where red meat, fruit, seafood, vegetables and peanut products are produced.

Members of the meat industry and food retailers supported the measure, citing the financial burden and increased record-keeping efforts they expect such labeling requirements to yield.

53% of consumers say the chance of contracting mad cow disease is too low for them to worry about.

66% of consumers say they have not changed beef consumption, but about 20% say they are less likely now to order hamburgers at restaurants.

About the survey

Reed Research Group/R&I's Food Safety Report 2004 was conducted on behalf of R&I by Reed Research Group. Data are based on interviews with 500 operators and 800 consumers. Data regarding mad cow disease are derived from a related study of 380 consumers. For further information about Food Safety Report 2004, including how to purchase a full report summarizing all findings, contact Pete Cholewinski, research director, at (630) 288-8202 or FoodResearch@reedbusiness.com.

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