Cattle futures plunged the daily trading limit Wednesday on an unsubstantiated report that an Indiana farmer had died from an illness that has been linked to “mad cow” disease.
Cattle for June delivery plunged the exchange-imposed daily trading limit of 1.5 cents a pound, to 63.90 cents, on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The April contract also fell the limit.
The Times of Hammond reported Saturday that farmer Joseph Gabor died of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a fatal brain-wasting illness, March 30.
It is not spongiform encephalopathy, the mad-cow disease that cattle contract, and a link between the two diseases has never been proved.
The Indiana Department of Health said it was preparing a statement on the report.
Discovery of mad cow disease in British cattle prompted a European Union ban on British beef.
