Germany discovers third BSE case

Germany is trying to calm consumer fears on sausages

MUNICH, Germany -- A Bavarian cow has been identified as suffering from mad cow disease -- the third case of the brain-wasting condition found in Germany.

A health authority spokeswoman in the town of Cham said on Wednesday a test had confirmed the latest case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).

Germany had maintained for a long time that it was BSE-free. Two of the three cases now discovered come from Bavaria, which produces nearly 30 percent of German beef.

New safety measures were announced by German authorities on Tuesday, the same day Austria, which borders the region to the south and has so far been BSE-free, asked the European Union for permission to ban German beef.

IN-DEPTH Mad cow disease: Counting the cost   •  The cross-species killer   •  What's off the menu?   •  EU beef consumption   •  BSE cases in Europe   •  Geographical BSE risk   •  One family's nightmare   •  Timeline: Crisis unfolds   •  Recent news   •  Audio/video archive   •  Message board   •  Related sites

Iran has also now suspended a contract to import 4,300 tonnes of meat from Germany in line with its import ban due to mad cow disease in Europe, the daily Hambastegi said on Wednesday. Iran imposed a ban on meat imports from Europe earlier this month.

German Health Minister Andrea Fischer is trying to calm consumer fears about the safety of eating sausages, the national delicacy, after a call by the EU's executive commission to stop the sale of wurst containing beef.

Fischer said there was no need to withdraw wurst from shops because animal parts believed to cause the human equivalent of BSE, new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), were no longer used in its production.

"There has been no cow brains in sausage for a year and a day. There is no reason to take dramatic steps," Fischer told German Radio.

She also denied advising consumers to avoid sausage, explaining that her comments a day earlier that she would not be buying wurst were because she did not each much meat anyway.

Fischer urged EU Food Safety Commissioner David Byrne to push for the bloc's ban on animal-based feed to become a permanent fixture and not be limited to six months, as it is at the moment.

"It would be fitting for an EU Commissioner to fight for something like that," said Fischer, a member of the ecologist Greens party that is a junior party in the ruling Berlin coalition.

Reuters contributed to this report.

New BSE case found in Germany
December 18, 2000
Germany weighs up British lamb ban
December 10, 2000
BSE crisis feed ban 'too short'
December 5, 2000
Summit considers BSE crackdown
December 4, 2000
Germany targets cattle feed amid BSE crisis
December 1, 2000

The BSE Inquiry
German Bundestag
European Union

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.