More than 4,000 pounds of beef has been recalled by a Missouri company.

The beef was sent to restaurants and Whole Foods, and there was a possibility that the spinal nerves and tissues carried mad cow disease, notes USA Today.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said the risk was "remote."

Fruitland American Meat in Jackson, Missouri recalled meat that was produced and packaged in September and April. It is about four or five steers worth of meat. Mostly, inspectors had cause for concern about the bone-in rib-eye roasts.

Certain tissues need to be removed because they can contain mad cow disease causing proteins. If humans eat this meat, it can cause Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, which is a fatal brain disorder.

The rib-eye roasts were distributed to one New York City restaurant and one in Kansas City, Missouri. The Whole Foods distribution center in Connecticut also got this possibly tainted meat.

"There is no indication that any of the cattle slaughtered displayed any signs" of the disease, said the USDA.

No issues have been reported yet.

More than 220 cases of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, or CJD, have been confirmed around the world. In the United States, there have been four cases reported. One recently died in Texas.

Mad cow disease does not cause CJD. Instead, it is a spontaneous, degenerative brain disease.

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Strokes explains CJD as "rapidly progressive dementia." There's impaired judgment, thinking and memory, and it can cause personality changes.

As the disease progresses, people can't control their movements and they may go blind.

CJD affects about one person in a million every year. It mostly happens in individuals that are 60 and older, and about 90 percent die within the year.