S. Korea ready to tackle OIE's U.S. beef risk status report, official says

Posted on February 28, 2007 by Mad Cow
SEOUL, Feb. 28 (Yonhap) -- South Korea is ready to tackle renewed beef market liberalization pressure after the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) announces U.S. mad cow disease risk levels in May, a senior official said Wednesday.

In a news conference, Vice Agriculture Minister Park Hae-sang said Seoul set up a special task force earlier in the month to examine the fallout from the OIE's planned announcement of the mad cow disease risk status for American beef.

"The team is closely watching the latest developments and examining in detail how Seoul can scientifically respond to demands by Washington for broader market liberalization," the official said.

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Human form of mad cow disease in Portugal

Posted on February 28, 2007 by Mad Cow
Health authorities believe they have detected Portugal’s second case of vCJD - the fatal brain disorder believed to be contracted by eating meat contaminated with mad cow disease.

Laboratory tests indicated a young woman had contracted the human form of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, Portugal’s general health directorate said in a brief statement on its website.

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Cattle report eases production concerns

Posted on February 28, 2007 by Mad Cow
Downes-O'Neill dairy economist Bill Brooks said we're producing more cheese, butter and nonfat dry milk than needed, now that the Super Bowl is behind us and we've finished up our extended holiday season. While there is concern where milk production will be later this year, he believes the recent cattle report allayed some of those fears and stocks are building, which is causing downward pressure on prices. He doesn't expect a great deal more price slippage, nothing like last year's spring price fall.

He looks for January milk production to show a similar increase to November and December, up about 2.5 percent from a year ago. The weather in California was apparently very good, according to Brooks, and temperatures weren't bad for animals. They weren't good for fruits and vegetables, he said, but were good for cows, so "we're probably looking at a decent production level out there and that will allow us to see continued milk production growth at an increasing rate similar to what we have seen ever since the heat wave there last summer."

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Early Treatment May Thwart Mad Cow-Type Disease

Posted on February 14, 2007 by Mad Cow
A number of brain diseases caused by mutant prion proteins, such as mad cow disease or scrapie in sheep, might be averted if normal prion proteins can be depleted, researchers report.

Prion disease, which includes the human form of mad cow disease called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, is thought to be caused when prion protein in the brain becomes misfolded, and this causes normal prion protein to follow suit. The accumulation of mutant prions is toxic to brain cells, eventually turning the brain to mush.

Now UK researchers report that in mice that have been infected with disease-related prions, early depletion of naturally occurring normal prion protein in neurons leads to repair of sponge-like brain damage.

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USDA says Canadian mad cow case won't impact trade

Posted on February 8, 2007 by Mad Cow
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A day after Canada announced its ninth case of mad cow disease, the United States on Thursday said beef trade with its northern neighbor would be unaffected with regulators promising to press ahead with a draft rule to allow older Canadian cattle back in the country.

"Based on what is known at this time, I would not expect this Canadian detection to impact our trade with Canada," U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said in a statement.

Tests released on Wednesday confirmed mad cow disease in a mature bull in Alberta. A senior veterinary official with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said the animal appears to have been born in 2000. No meat from the animal entered the food chain.

Canada has reported nine cases of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), in its domestic herd since May 2003. All the animals are believed to have contracted the disease from contaminated feed, a primary way mad cow can spread.

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Mad cow detected in Alberta bull

Posted on February 8, 2007 by Mad Cow
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - Tests have confirmed mad cow disease in a mature bull in Alberta, but none of the animal entered the food chain, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said on Wednesday.

"The animal's carcass is under CFIA control, and no part of it entered the human food or animal feed systems," the agency said in a statement.

The agency did not say how old the animal was, but said that based on preliminary information it was "within the age range" of other Canadian cattle found to have have been infected with the disease.

"This signifies that the animal was exposed to a very small amount of infective material, most likely during its first year of life," CFIA said in a statement.

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Swiss firm finds mad cow proteins in milk

Posted on February 8, 2007 by Mad Cow
SCHLIEREN, Switzerland, Feb. 5 (UPI) -- Swiss firm Alicon said Monday it detected prion proteins in cow milk, raising the possibility mad cow disease could be transmitted via milk.

The findings mark the first time prions have been found in homogenized and pasteurized milk from supermarket shelves. Alicon said it was not clear if the prions were the normal, harmless variety or the abnormal type associated with mad cow disease and related disorders.

"In the case of the prion proteins detected, it is highly likely that they were of the normal variety posing no danger to health," the company said in a statement. "However, the occurrence of the normal variety could mean that the milk of cows already infected with (mad cow disease) also contains infectious prion proteins (i.e., prions) of the disease-causing variety."

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Japan reports 32nd mad cow case

Posted on February 6, 2007 by Mad Cow
JAPAN'S top health authority said today it confirmed the country's 32nd case of mad cow disease, Xinhua news agency reported.

A 5 and a half year old female cow tested positive for mad cow disease last week in northern Japan, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said today.

The body and organs of the cow have been burned.

This is the 32nd case of confirmed bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in Japan, according to the ministry.

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