Dartmouth students and Hanover residents show little concern about the recent discovery of mad cow disease in the United States, as managers of local eateries report no drop-off in sales of beef and steak products.
Molly's on South Main Street has continued to sell just as many burgers and steaks as it did before evidence of infected cattle in Washington state surfaced, according to General Manager Tom Crutis.
"We haven't seen any drop-off yet," Crutis said, "and I wouldn't expect to see one unless we start hearing about more outbreaks or about more local outbreaks."
"The fact that all the diseased cows have been found out West is a big advantage," Crutis said.
Toby Fried, owner and manager of Lou's, said that he had expected burger sales to decrease and for customers to be more hesitant about ordering beef, but it "has not been an issue as of yet."
It is too early in the term for Dartmouth Dining Services to determine whether news of the disease has affected the sale of beef products in dining halls across campus. But DDS Director Tucker Rossiter said that he does expect the sale of burgers and other beef products to decrease "to some degree."
"People in this area aren't as weary. I think the general feeling is that maybe it hasn't affected this part of the country yet," Rossiter said. "We may make some modest changes in the menus, but that's it."
Most likely, this change would occur by decreasing the number of beef specials served, he said.
Although he expects a marginal decrease in burger sales, Rossiter said that no change has been made in the number of burgers ordered for the dining halls. Such an adjustment would be made, however, if dining halls do observe a noticeable decrease in beef sales at the beginning of the term.
"We are very confident in the purveyors we use," Rossiter said.
Tim Cullen, manager of Murphy's on the Green, echoed Rossiter's sentiments.
"We are using top notch ground beef and pay extra dollar for it, so we are not going to be getting any spare cow parts in our beef," Cullen said.
Only the brain and spinal cord of infected cattle carry the disease, which has now been found in three herds of cattle in Washington state. The first occurrence of the disease was Dec. 23, when a Washington dairy cow was found infected. The cow was imported from Canada three months earlier.
In addition to quarantining the three Washington herds that contained the infected cow and any offspring it may have produced, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has been trying to account for the other 81 cattle imported with the infected cow from Canada. So far, only 12 have been identified.
The disease is of concern to public health officials because it can cause variant Creutzfeld-Jakob disease, a fatal brain disorder, in humans.
