Meat & Poultry -- December 2013 - 21

NCBA had a core team of 15-20 staff who worked the

lar decisions made by USDA that minimized the domes-

BSE issue and did nothing else until Jan. 4.

tic impact of the case.

"Because of our quick response, we became the 'stan-

"Having the forethought to commission a risk assess-

dard of truth' with the media and consumers," Stokes says.

ment prior to any of this happening was a brilliant move

"The critical success factor was that USDA and the

by the secretary," Murano says. "She had initiated it in

industry spoke with one voice," says Stokes. "The public

the aftermath of the BSE cases in the UK in 2000. Had

was not getting mixed messages. This built confidence

we not had this to rely upon, we would have been scram-

with consumers. We anticipated a decline in consumer

bling to explain to the public what we intended to do to

confidence regarding the safety of US beef, but actually

protect them from this agent. In addition, the ban issued

consumer confidence increased. Also, when surveyed,

by the FDA on the feeding of animal parts to animals

consumers had more trust in USDA and the industry

because of the UK cases was also a very smart decision,

than they did in other groups."

which again, provided the public with assurances of safety

"The industry was also fortunate that the first case hap-

when we had the first case."

pened in Washington State," Frazier says. "Patti Brum-

The biggest lesson of the case for Acord was planning.

bach, executive director of the Washington State Beef

"Plan, plan, plan and make the plan a partnership with

Commission, was a seasoned state executive with terrific

industry and states and stick to the plan once a crisis hits,"

public relations and issues management skills. A few years

he says. "Any animal-disease emergency will be a chaotic

before the case, she had pulled together the agricultural and

event under the best of circumstances. A plan will give

livestock organizations in the state and did a crisis man-

some organization to the chaos and guide you to a more

agement plan. She deserves a lot of credit for her efforts."

manageable environment."

AMI's Riley notes the united industry effort. "The news couldn't
have come at a worse time given the
holidays and yet there was a remarkable amount of coordination and
sharing of information, especially
between AMI and NCBA," she says.
"We would email each other about
the many media requests and try to
find someone who could handle it. I
think we all wanted industry's voice
to be represented and we were one
unified team in meeting the demands
for interviews."

Controlled chaos
The first US BSE case provided not
just the beef industry but many other
industries and organizations a model
of how to prepare for and handle a
crisis. By all accounts, USDA and the
industry did just about everything
right. In particular, they planned for
years for such an event and knew exactly what to do when the case was
discovered. There were also particuwww.MeatPoultry.com * December 2013 * Meat&Poultry *

21
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