It's time for me to update my mad cow article collection. I am sorely behind on this and will try to be more current in the future.

February 2007

Canadian cattle entering U.S. without ID tags, documents show

SPOKANE, Wash. -- Documents obtained by cattlemen in Washington state were cited as revealing that hundreds of cattle from Canada, which this month confirmed its ninth case of mad cow disease, have entered the United States without government-required health papers or identification tags.
Santa Barbara News-Press Link


Beijing confiscates Canadian beef on BSE fears

Animal health officials in Beijing have seized 60 cartons of beef imported from Canada on fears of bovine spongiform encephalopathy. Food HACCP.com Link


Japan asks U.S. to explain beef discrepancy

Japan is requesting that the United States government investigate how a shipment of U.S. beef without a certificate showing age entered Tokyo, according to the Kyodo news agency.

However, Toshikatsu Matsuoka, minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, told reporters he wasn't questioning the U.S. export system. He pointed out that the U.S. government did not approve the beef shipment for export in the first place.
The Japanese government said an importer on Feb. 5 notified an animal quarantine office that several boxes of frozen beef from an unidentified U.S. facility arrived without a required U.S. government letter certifying the product was derived from cattle younger than 20 months. FoodHACCP.com Link


Portugal reports probable 2nd case of human mad cow disease

LISBON -- Health authorities were cited as saying on Wednesday that Portugal has probably detected the second case of the human form of mad cow disease in the country in a young Portuguese woman's brain. People's Daily Online


U.S. sorting out question of age violation on beef export to Japan

Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns acknowledged a U.S. beef shipment that arrived in Japan earlier this month may have violated the country's trade rules, but cautioned that the investigation is still in its early stages.
USDA spokeswoman Terri Teuber told reporters the agency verified that "additional boxes in a shipment" contained beef from cattle less than 30 months of age, but said USDA is uncertain whether the beef originated from cattle younger than 21 months, per Japan's specifications. Ag In The News Link


Mad cow testing lab at WSU to close

PULLMAN, Wash. -- The only mad cow testing laboratory in the
Pacific Northwest will, according to this story, close March 1, just over three years after a Yakima Valley dairy cow tested positive for the chronic brain-wasting disease.
The story says that the Washington State University lab opened after the nation's first mad cow case in December 2003 prompted some new safeguards. FSnet Link