Chicago, United States of America
SHOPPER LEAVES BUTCHER SHOP IN CHICAGO.
A shopper exits a butcher shop in Chicago's meat and produce district, December 24, 2003. The market for U.S. beef exports effectively shut down on Wednesday as fallout from the first case of mad cow disease in the United States widened and public health investigators combed a tiny Washington state hamlet to find the cause of the potentially fatal disease. Japan, Mexico and South Korea, the top three markets for U.S. beef exports, banned imports after it was disclosed that a single 4-year-old Holstein cow tested positive for the brain-wasting disease, a discovery that threatened the $27 billion U.S. cattle industry. REUTERS/Frank Polich FJP/HB