Washington – A cow in Alabama has tested positive for mad cow disease, the Agriculture Department said Monday, confirming the third U.S. case of the brain-wasting ailment.
The cow did not enter the food supply for people or animals, officials said. The animal, unable to walk, was killed by a local veterinarian and buried on the farm where it was found.
“We remain very confident in the safety of U.S. beef,” said the department’s chief veterinarian, John Clifford.
Authorities said the farm was under an informal quarantine but would not say where it was.
“We will not release this information at this time until we complete our investigation, and that could take a few days,” said Alabama agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks.
Federal and state investigators are working to determine the cow’s age, where it was born and raised, and locate its herd mates and offspring. Sparks said there are no other suspect animals on the farm.
Clifford said the cow was a Santa Gertrudis breed, a reddish animal that thrives in hotter weather in the South.
The news came as the Bush administration worked to reassure Japan and other foreign customers of American beef. Japan halted U.S. beef shipments in January after finding veal cuts with backbone – cuts that are eaten in the U.S. but not in Asia.
Japan was the top customer of American beef until the first U.S. case of mad cow disease prompted a ban it had only recently lifted.
“We would not anticipate that this would impact our ongoing negotiations,” Clifford said. “Our product is safe. We’ve got a number of interlocking safeguards. And Japan themselves have had 20-plus cases of BSE.” Mad cow disease is the common name for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE.
The first U.S. case of mad cow disease appeared in December 2003 and involved a Canadian-born cow in Washington state. The disease was found again last June in a cow that was born and raised in Texas.
