France widens testing for mad cow disease

PARIS, France (Reuters) -- France announced wider testing for mad cow disease on Tuesday as two more retail chains alerted customers that they had unknowingly sold beef from a herd hit by the brain-wasting disease.

The nationwide chain Auchan said its supermarket in the town of Petite-Foret in northern France had sold 240 kilograms (529 pounds) of the beef between October 17 and 20.

Auchan said it was asking consumers to return the meat. The family-owned chain also launched a nationwide recall of offal products from the Soviba slaughterhouse, west of Paris, as a precaution against bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), the so-called mad cow disease.

Another family-owned chain, Cora, said it was taking similar measures after two of its stores sold a combined total of 119 kilograms (262 pounds) of beef from the same herd last week.

Agriculture Minister Jean Glavany told the National Assembly that cattle being brought for slaughter would now be randomly tested, and not just animals that died apparently from BSE or were killed by veterinarians.

France began testing 48,000 cattle for BSE in June to gauge the extent of the illness among its 21 million cattle. At least 71 cases have been detected this year -- 25 of them through the new testing program. Last year, France had 30 cases of BSE.

"The program of tests will be enlarged in the coming weeks in a random manner on meat destined for the food chain as it enters slaughterhouses so we can have a better understanding of the epidemic," Glavany told legislators.

Glavany also said the government would ask the food safety agency AFSSA to evaluate the risk of feeding animal products to other animals, although he noted that AFSSA and a European Union parliamentary panel had so far seen no reason for such a ban.

"This government is completely ready to open the debate and will soon ask AFSSA for a rigorous evaluation of the risks that meat and bone meal pose to other animals," Glavany said.

In a statement, AFSSA said the use of animal fats in feed for cud-chewing beasts such as cows, sheep and goats should be restricted to limit the risk of brain-wasting diseases.

France currently bans meat and bone meal in cattle feed amid fears they play a key role in transmitting the disease, although several groups, including the Greens party, have demanded that the ban be extended to all animal feed.

French consumers' fears over BSE have been heightened after a trader accused of knowingly selling a cow infected with BSE to a slaughterhouse was remanded to custody on Sunday with his son.

A ton of beef from other animals in the herd, which the trader sold to the same slaughter facility, ended up in 39 supermarkets of the Carrefour chain and was recalled at the weekend. Two more tons of the meat were intercepted at the slaughterhouse.

In a statement on Tuesday, Carrefour said that animal-based feeds should be banned for all animals and BSE testing at slaughterhouses should be made the rule. "Carrefour is determined to implement this testing soon for all beef sold in its stores," it said.

The farm ministry said it was taking legal action against the trader after veterinary inspectors at the facility confirmed that a cow in the herd had BSE. Carrefour also said it was suing the beef supplier.

Scientists believe BSE-infected meat can cause a new form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans, an illness that has killed 73 people in Britain and two in France.

France remains locked in a legal battle with the European Commission over its refusal to lift a ban on imports of British beef because of fears it is not entirely free of BSE.

Britain has reported 176,800 cases of BSE since 1986. Its livestock industry has been devastated by a three-and-a-half-year ban on beef exports, which the Commission lifted last year.

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