December 12, 2005

Japan reports new BSE case
 

Japan's Farm Ministry has confirmed mad cow disease, or BSE, in a 69-month-old Holstein cow in the northern Hokkaido prefecture.

This marked the 21st BSE case in the country.

The ministry said meat and intestines from the slaughtered cow would be destroyed and would not enter the food supply.

According to the ministry, the cow was born in Feb 2000, before the country banned the use of meat-and-bone (MBM) meal as feed for all animals. MBM was thought to cause BSE.

After discovering its first BSE case in a domestic herd in 2001, Japan made testing of all cattle for BSE mandatory.

Although blanket testing of cattle was officially dropped in August, local authorities continued the practice.

This latest BSE case in Japan came at a time when the country has been under increasing pressure from the US to lift its BSE ban on American beef.