New mad cow cases found in France

Three supermarket chains have alerted customers about beef from a herd that contained a cow suffering from BSE

PARIS, France -- Seven more cases of mad cow disease have been identified in France amid growing fears among consumers after potentially contaminated beef made it onto supermarket shelves.

The new discoveries reported on Friday brought to 78 the total number of cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) identified this year in France compared to 30 cases last year.

Of the seven new cases, six were detected under the traditional surveillance system while the seventh was spotted under the country's new BSE testing programme launched in June. Authorities destroyed all seven cattle and their herds -- a total of 531 animals.

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Earlier this week, three retail chains alerted customers that they had sold beef from a herd in western France that contained a cow suffering from BSE.

Some 10 makers of tripe and animal feed also received offal and meat products from the same BSE-tainted herd, prompting a scramble to track down contaminated food.

The revelations have forced the government to consider taking more precautions against the spread of the disease such as banning the feeding of animal products to other animals.

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Currently, France only bans the use of such products in cattle feed.

There have also been calls for a more systematic programme of testing cattle for BSE.

Farm Minister Jean Glavany said the government was leaning towards testing the five to six million cattle slaughtered in France each year, but that it would take time to set up the necessary infrastructure and the tests were not fully reliable.

Reuters contributed to this report.

New 'mad cow' link to humans and livestock
August 29, 2000

Mad Cow Disease information
French Government
Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSE)

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