Netherland

BSE detected at a farm in the Nederlands

A cow found on a farm in the Netherlands this week tested positive for Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, better known as BSE or mad cow disease. The cow "did not enter the food chain, and therefore does not pose a direct risk to public health," the Ministry of Agriculture said in a statement. People who eat meat from an infected cow can potentially develop Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a rare and fatal neurological disease. Over the years, 4.5 million cattle were slaughtered to contain the spread.

Posted on Feb 02 ,00:20

The farm where the cow died has been sealed off, Agriculture Minister Piet Adema said in a letter to lawmakers. He added that the infected animal "did not get into the food chain and does not constitute a risk to food safety."

Tests on the 8-year-old cow from a farm in South Holland province established that the dead animal had a naturally occurring form of the disease called atypical BSE, the government said, and not so-called classical BSE, which is caused by animals eating contaminated feed.

Food safety authorities are conducting an investigation to trace any offspring of the dead animal as well as cows that ate the same feed or grew up with it. They will be euthanized, tested for BSE and destroyed, the ministry said.

"Offspring, and animals that have had the same feed, and animals that have grown up with this bovine are being tracked down, tested for BSE," and will be put down, Agriculture Minister Piet Adema said. "There is a chance that other cattle have also eaten this feed and become infected from it. In that case, measures must be taken to manage risks to food safety and public health."

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