Second US BSE case is home grown?

A number of reactions were set off by the USDA's confirmation of the second BSE casein June 2005, including Taiwan's reimposition of a ban on US beef imports. The discovery also comes as the US industry is struggling to persuade Japan and South Korea to re-open their markets to US beef exports. The new BSE case is described as a beef cow more than eight years old that was labelled as a "downer" too ill to walk. It could be the first US-born case. The first case was an older dairy cow in Washington State that had been born in Canada.

Japan, South Korea and other major foreign beef markets, banned US beef in December 2003 after the USDA announced finding its first case of BSE in Washington state.Tracing the other cows that shared the feed of that cow proved troublesome. RFID and other modern traceability technologies have yet to be widely adopted in the US but every major scare brings that forward, possibly to be backed by legislation. In recent months Japan was leaning to toward lifting its ban on US beef this summer but now officials say they are re-considering the USDA evidence. Beef and beef exports to Japan, the US's largest market before the ban, were valued at $1.2 billion in 2003. After the first case of BSE was discovered in Washingtion US beef exports fell by 64 per cent, with Japan representing half that market. About 41 per cent of the traditional export markets, or $3bn remain closed to US beef.

To limit the damage the USDA is working to locate herdmates and offspring of the affected cow, because they may also have eaten contaminated feed, and could possibly have mad cow disease as well. Agriculture secretary Mike Johanns also directed USDA scientists to work with international experts to develop a new testing system. The new system would include performing dual confirmatory tests in the event of an inconclusive BSE screening test using a rapid method. The USDA is looking into how the current system allowed the BSE-infected cow to first be classified as negative for the brain-wasting syndrome in November 2004.

 

Cattle prices have fallen by about 2.7 per cent in futures trading since the USDA said on 10 June that it was re-testing the beef cow, which had been declared free of the disease in November. Prices are expected to continue falling.