For many Lawrence consumers, it will take more than one sick cow to scare them away from beef.

Wednesday — the day after the government announced a cow in Washington state was suspected of having the first U.S. case of mad cow disease — shoppers leaving Lawrence supermarkets said they had no plans to change their beef buying habits.

Among the items Jim Ford was loading into his car Wednesday afternoon was $21 worth of steak he bought at the Hy-Vee Food and Drug Store in northwest Lawrence. Ford said he wasn’t going to get too concerned about the disease — which can kill humans — as long as it was found in only a single cow.

“As long as it is not the one that this chunk of beef came from, it doesn’t bother me,” the Lawrence resident said.

But not everyone — even in the same household — feels the same way. Ford’s wife, Cindy Ford, said she had not heard the disease reached the United States until after her husband purchased the steaks.

“One cow is one too many for me,” Cindy Ford said. “It does scare me. We were going to cook out for Christmas, but now I think I may eat chicken.”

Federal officials Wednesday sought to reassure consumers that the nation’s beef supply was safe.

“The risk to human life is extremely low,” Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman told reporters.

According to grocery managers across the city, that message was getting through. Business was brisk at the beef counter Wednesday.

Ernie Oliphant shops for thick T-bone steaks in Wichita. Officials with the unidentified store said sales were brisk on Christmas Eve. Despite Tuesday's report that a single cow in Washington had apparently been infected with the brain-wasting mad cow disease, many area residents said they didn't plan to change their beef-buying habits.

Jim Lewis, owner of Checkers Foods, 2300 La., said he received only one call from a customer concerned about the issue.

“We were so busy today that I was back there filling the meat case,” Lewis said.

Frank Prolago, market manager at the Hy-Vee store at 3504 Clinton Parkway, said he was optimistic shoppers wouldn’t get too concerned about buying beef.

“If the media makes it a big deal then it will become a big deal,” Prolago said. “Otherwise, I don’t think people are going to think much about it.”

And some consumers we’re hopeful the scare would produce some benefits they could cash in on.

“Hopefully it will bring the prices down,” said Sherry Walton, Lawrence. “So it might actually be a good thing.”

Javier Lopez grabs a piece of beef out of a bin to finish the product for the market on the trim line at Maverick Ranch Natural Meats in Denver. Officials with Maverick Ranch Natural Meats said Wednesday that they used hand-held computer devices to take retinal images of cows. The images better track the cow's life history and help assure consumers that the beef the company processes is safe to eat.

The suspected mad cow case already is hitting the beef industry. Eleven countries — including Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Russia, and Australia — had issued bans on importing U.S. beef.

Gary Bartz, owner of Don’s Steak House, 2176 E. 23rd St., said that should bring beef prices down from their near record highs.

“I expect for beef to come way off now,” he said. “They won’t be exporting it, so there should be a glut.”

Bartz wasn’t so certain about what the news would do to his business. He said much would depend on whether any more cases are found.

“I don’t think it will blow over for awhile,” Bartz said. “We’ll just have to wait and see what’s next. I just hope people don’t get the Chicken Little syndrome. You know, a meteor could fall from the sky and hit the earth and kill a few people, but that doesn’t mean the sky is falling.”