Japan reports 26th case of mad cow disease

A 5-year and 8-month-old dairy cow raised in northern Japan was confirmed to have contracted the mad cow disease, the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said Saturday.

This is the 26th case of the bovine spongiform encephalopathy ( BSE) reported in Japan. The female Holstein, which had been raised on a farm in Imakane, in Hokkaido died on Wednesday, the ministry said.

The cow was suspected of being infected in a preliminary check and it tested positive in further testing by the National Institute of Animal Health.

The Holstein was born before the implementation of a ban on meat-and-bone feed in 2001.

Japan discovered its first mad cow case in September 2001 and later introduced measures to screen every cow slaughtered for consumption. In March and April, Japan reported three BSE cases including the first mad cow case in the country with a beef cow.

Source: Xinhua