Japan confirms 26th case of mad cow disease
Sun May 14, 8:50 PM ET
Japan has confirmed its 26th case of mad cow disease, this time in a 68-month-old Holstein dairy cow on the northern island of Hokkaido.
The Ministry of Agriculture said that experts had concluded that the cow had tested positive for the brain-wasting disease officially known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), which was first discovered in Japan in 2001.
The meat and intestines from the slaughtered cow will be destroyed and will not enter the market, the ministry said.
Japan, once the top importer of U.S. beef, is in talks with the United States over a possible resumption of beef imports.
Tokyo suspended the imports in January, just a month after it partially lifted a two-year-old ban, after Japanese inspectors discovered banned spinal material in a shipment of veal.
U.S. and Japanese officials are scheduled to meet in Tokyo this week to discuss progress on resuming trade in beef.
In December, Japan lifted a ban on U.S. beef on condition that the meat came from animals no older than 20 months and that specified risk materials that could spread mad cow disease, such a s spinal cords, were removed before shipment.
Animals under 20 months of age are considered to be at lower risk of the disease, and no case has been discovered in Japan in an animal under 21 months.
The human form of mad cow disease has been blamed for the deaths of more than 160 people worldwide.
