January 13, 2004

UN: Mad Cow Screening Inadequate

A United Nations food agency has called measures taken by many countries to screen cattle for mad cow disease inadequate to prevent the spread of the infection and reassure consumers.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said the discovery of the first case of mad cow disease -bovine spongiform encephalopathy -in the U.S. in December highlights the need for wider testing programs and the stricter application of preventive measures in countries where the disease is known to be present.

Currently, countries such as the U.S., Australia and Canada test only a small percentage of cattle aged over 30 months for the disease, between one out of 10,000 to one out of 100,000, the Rome-based agency said.

The agency recommended testing all cattle older than 30 months, an age beyond which the disease becomes detectable, as a measure to enhance consumer confidence.

Mad cow disease eats holes in the brains of cattle and is incurable. Experts believe humans can develop a brain-wasting illness, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, by consuming contaminated beef products.

The U.N. agency also recommended strengthening other precautionary measures such as the removal and destruction from cattle of the brain and spinal cord - body parts that are more likely to carry the disease -and strictly enforcing the ban on feeding animals with recycled meat and bone meal from possibly infected cows.