June 2008 Mad Cow News

In April 2009 an FDA rule will prohibit cattle parts in feed for all animals..not just cattle.

To further strengthen existing safeguards against bovine spongiform encephalopathy, the Food and Drug Administration has issued a rule amending its regulations to prohibit the use of certain cattle-origin materials in the food or feed of all animals.
Previously the U.S. ruminant feed regulation prohibited the use of certain mammalian-origin proteins in ruminant feed but allowed them in feed for nonruminant animals. Am Vet. Med Assn. Link

Because of public protest, South Korea's president will not allow cattle that are older than 30 months into the country, a reversal of his original decision.

South Korea's president was cited as vowing Sunday not to allow the import of meat from older cattle, in hopes of quelling public anger at the government's decision to resume beef imports from the United States. Boston Globe Link

A cow in Canada has mad cow disease but has not enetered the human or animal food chain.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has confirmed bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in a cow in the Province of British Columbia. This case poses no risk to human or animal health since Canada’s stringent BSE safeguards prevented any part of the animal’s carcass from entering the human food chain or any potentially infective parts of the animal’s carcass from entering the animal feed chain. Canadian Food Insp. Agency Link

I'm not sure how one prepares a cattle head for human consumption but a Texas company has recalled its product because it might have BSE contaminated tissue. As you can see compliance against retailing BSE contaminated meat is hardly perfect.

Beltex Corporation, doing business as Frontier Meats, a Fort Worth, Texas, establishment, is recalling approximately 2,850 pounds of fresh cattle heads which may contain specified risk materials (SRMs), the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced today. Cattle Network Link