MAD COW INCIDENT FAILING TO SCARE LOCAL BEEF LOVERS AWAY FROM THEIR BURGERS.Byline: Staff and Wire Services Many San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. residents scoffed Wednesday at news reports that a single cow in Washington state had been diagnosed with mad cow disease mad cow disease: see prion. mad cow disease or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) Fatal neurodegenerative disease of cattle. Symptoms include behavioral changes (e.g. , pledging to continue devouring burgers and steaks with gusto. ``Let the FDA FDA abbr. Food and Drug Administration FDA, n.pr See Food and Drug Administration. FDA, n.pr the abbreviation for the Food and Drug Administration. worry about it. I love meat,'' said Chad Keene, 32, of Saugus as he and co-worker Kenny Hickman, 27, of Simi Valley Simi Valley (sē`mē, sĭm`ē), city (1990 pop. 100,217), Ventura co., SW Calif. in an oil, fruit, and farm region; laid out 1887, inc. 1969. picked up sacks of cheeseburgers at a Fatburger restaurant in Woodland Hills. Von Mitchell, 73, of Honolulu and his daughter, Linda Thompson, 43, of Canoga Park likewise sank their teeth into a couple of juicy cheeseburgers at Stars Drive Thru in Winnetka. ``One cow. In Washington,'' Mitchell said. ``If it gets down here and gets into the hamburger - the chances of that are pretty slim.'' But Michelle Garcia, 21, of Winnetka just bought a soft drink at Stars and said she'd probably think twice about eating beef. ``I won't for a while,'' she said. ``It's kind of scary.'' Royb Honaryar, 51, of Northridge, who owns Stars as well as 10 Popeye's Chicken restaurants and four Church's Chicken Church's Chicken is a U.S. chain of fast food restaurants specializing in fried chicken. The chain was founded as Church's Fried Chicken To Go by George W. Church, Sr. on April 17, 1952 in San Antonio, across the street from The Alamo. restaurants in the Valley, isn't sure how consumers will react. But he noted that chicken sales have been better than usual for the past two weeks. ``I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. if it's due to (mad cow reports,) but it looks like people are leaning more towards chicken than beef,'' he said. ``Chicken has been very good to me.'' Several steakhouses and hamburger restaurants contacted by the Daily News declined to comment. McDonald's Corp., the largest purchaser of beef in the nation, said in a statement that the infected cow had no connection to its beef supply and that its food was safe. Spokesmen for Burger King and Wendy's, the nation's second- and third-largest fast-food chains, also said they had safeguards in place. Denny Lynch, a spokesman for Dublin, Ohio-based Wendy's International, said the U.S. Department of Agriculture's safety standards are effective. ``Tuesday's incident proves the system works. We applaud what the government is doing,'' he said. Mad cow disease, known also as bovine spongiform encephalopathy bovine spongiform encephalopathy: see prion. , eats holes in the brains of cattle. A human illness, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease: see prion. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease or CJD Rare fatal disease of the central nervous system. It destroys brain tissue, making it spongy and causing progressive loss of mental functioning and motor control. , is related to mad cow disease, and doctors believe humans contract it from eating meat containing infected tissue. The discovery comes amid a boom time for the U.S. beef industry, which had been buoyed by the popularity of high-protein diets like the Atkins diet Atkins Diet Definition The Atkins diet is a high-protein, high-fat, and very low-carbohydrate regimen. It emphasizes meat, cheese, and eggs, while discouraging foods such as bread, pasta, fruit, and sugar. It is a form of ketogenic diet. , along with a surge in exports to countries that banned Canadian beef after mad cow was found there. Daily News staff, (818) 713-3705 dnmetro(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): 3 photos Photo: (1) Kenny Hickman, left, and Chad Keen show off the hamburgers they bought for themselves and their co-workers at the Fatburger in Woodland Hills on Wednesday, unworried about reports of mad cow disease found in Washington. (2 -- 3) Lisa Thompson of Canoga Park, left, digs into a hamburger at Stars Drive Thru in Winnetka on Wednesday. Royb Honaryar, 51, of Northridge, above, who owns Stars, isn't sure how customers will react to reports of the first case of mad cow disease found in the United States. Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer |
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