26.sep.06
Associated Press
TOKYO -- A cow in northern Japan is suspected of having the country's 29th case of mad cow disease, an official said Tuesday.
Preliminary tests on the animal at the Ishikari Livestock Hygiene Service Center in Hokkaido prefecture on Japan's northernmost main island were positive, said Hokkaido official Hiroyuki Takeuchi. Final test results could be known by the end of this week, he said.
The cow died at a ranch and was brought to the hygiene center for initial testing.
To date, Japan has confirmed 28 animals infected with the fatal illness -- known formally as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE -- since the first case in Japan was defected in 2001. Since then, Tokyo has begun taking steps to check every cow that is slaughtered or dies at ranches before it enters the food supply.
Japan banned imports of American beef in December 2003 after the first case of mad cow disease in the United States. That ban was eased in December 2005, but was re-imposed after prohibited spinal bones were found in a shipment of veal in January.
In July, Japan eased the ban, with U.S. beef hitting some retailers' shelves the following month. Earlier this month, Yoshinoya D&C Co., a major Japanese fast-food chain, returned a popular rice dish topped with U.S. beef that was off the menu for more than two years due to mad cow scares.
