France’s agriculture ministry has said a cow in the Ardennes region tested positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also known as mad cow disease. It’s the third confirmed case in Europe since 2015.
The cow was identified last week but initial tests were not confirmed until Thursday, upon which the French government insisted that consumers were in no danger of eating contaminated meat.
The agriculture ministry said in a statement on its website that the case was isolated to a farm in the northeastern region of Ardennes, where livestock farmers are already feeling pinched by low demand for beef exports.
The tests were confirmed by the European Commission and the World Organization for Animal Health, who noted that this was the third case of BSE in Europe since 2015.
“The detection of this isolated case confirms the effectiveness of our surveillance systems put in place in France,” the agriculture ministry statement read.
cjc/hch (Reuters, Ministère de l’Agriculture)
