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Mad Cows Over Europe Part II

© Roxanne Nelson

In my last article, I gave you a rundown about the Mad Cow basics. Now the big question is, how does it affect your trip to Europe?

First off, let's look at some stats. Cases of new variant CJD are pretty rare; there's only been around 90 total, occurring in Britain, France and Ireland. But it has a long incubation period, so many other people may be infected. Plus other people may have actually had it and died, who were diagnosed incorrectly with another disease. So just because the numbers look relatively small, it's not good to be complacent about it.

Now variant CJD is different from BSE, which is the disease that the cattle get. The numbers are a little bit higher here. Some 180,000 cases of BSE have been confirmed in Britain, where it was first discovered back in 1986. More recently, cases have popped up in France, Germany, Portugal, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Spain and France.

Europeans themselves fear for their health. Both the British and German governments promised the population that the beef was safe, and then lo and behold, BSE turned up in their cows. Beef consumption has been dropping around Europe; in fact, in Germany it has decreased about 50% since November.

Now to look at the bright side—new variant CJD isn't something that you "catch." It's not like the bubonic plague or even the flu. You have to go after it, and it can be completely avoided. And there certainly is no reason to cancel a trip to Europe because of it.

Go Veggie

The simplest solution is just to avoid meat altogether. Being a vegetarian and having traveled extensively in Europe, I can say without confidence that it is quite easy to find delicious food. I even spent a winter in Denmark and had no problems. Even Eastern Europe is getting easier for vegetarians, and especially in spring and summer, there should be plenty of fresh produce.

If you're not ready to go total veggie, then just avoid red meat. And I say red meat, because sometimes you cannot be sure what type of meat it is, especially if you are dining in a country where the language is a complete mystery, as is the menu. Eat fish or poultry.

If you ask in a restaurant if the meat is safe, then of course, you will be told that it is. But the truth is, they don't know. Outside of testing every single cow, there is no way of knowing if the supply is completely safe. The chances are, it is, especially outside of Britain or Germany. But why risk it? At least, that's my way of looking at it. With so much else to eat, why risk your health? And of course, there are numerous other reasons why avoiding beef and red meat is healthier all around, but we won't get into that.