U.S. aide bluntly describes her beef
US - The United States turned up the pressure on Korea to negotiate a settlement of a controversy over the import of U.S. beef here on Monday in Washington.

Should we still be worried about BSE?
UK - When the news first broke that 'mad cow disease' could be passed to people, some scientists predicted that tens of thousands of us could eventually die of vCJD, the human form of BSE.

Japan May Ease U.S. Beef Inspections
JAPAN - Japan may scale back stringent inspections of U.S. beef imports that were imposed over mad cow fears, a senior health official was quoted as saying Monday.

Identifying Variation in the U.S. Bovine Prion Gene
US - Bovine spongiform encephalopathy - BSE, or mad cow disease - is a serious threat to the U.S. beef industry.

Company develops BSE resistant cow
IOWA - Mad Cow, or BSE, is blamed on a deformed particle called a prion so Roble says they bred a cow with no prions in its brain at all.

FDA Proposes Barring Certain Cattle Material From Medical Products As BSE Safeguard
US - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is proposing to limit the materials used in some medical products in order to keep them free of the agent thought to cause mad cow disease, also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE.

USDA proposed to allow additional imports from BSE minimal-risk countries
US - The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service today announced a proposal to expand the list of allowable imports from countries recognized as presenting a minimal risk of introducing bovine spongiform encephalopathy...

Gene-engineered cattle resist BSE
JAPAN - US and Japanese scientists reported on Sunday that they had used genetic engineering to produce cattle that resist mad cow disease.

BSE Announcement May Have Hurt Domestic Beef Sales
US - A USDA Economic Research service study released Friday provides evidence that the U.S. government announcement of finding cows in Washington State infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy in 2003 resulted in a dip in beef purchases.

BSE testing debate heat up again
CANADA - The debate over voluntary testing of carcasses for BSE flared up again in Alberta last month and was to be thrashed out at the annual meeting of the Alberta Beef Producers (ABP) before this issue arrives in your mailbox.

Untested OTM heifer enters the food chain
UK - The Agency has been notified that an Over Thirty Month old (OTM) heifer has entered the human food chain without being tested for BSE. Testing of bovine animals is mandatory in those intended for human consumption that are over thirty months at slaughter....

EU bureaucracy causing problems for livestock farmers
UK - The bureaucracy of Brussels is causing problems for livestock farmers whose animals may be subject to conditions which prevent them being transported to an abattoir for slaughter.

‘US Conspiracy Theory Has No Beef in It’
SOUTH KOREA - Korean government officials were caught off guard on Thursday by a conspiracy theory vented by a senior U.S. government official that some bone fragments were planted in shipments of U.S. beef sent here.

BSE case reported In Czech Republic
CZECH REPUBLIC - A new case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy has been reported in the Czech Republic, bringing the country's total to 25, an official said Monday.

Saudi man is third US mad cow case, CDC says
US - A Saudi-born man living in Virginia has been identified as the third reported U.S. case of a human form of mad cow disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Second Shipment of U.S. Beef Rejected
SOUTH KOREA - Korea has found bone fragments in a second shipment of U.S. beef and decided to return or destroy it, only a week after it made the same decision over the ill-fated first lot of beef that arrived here when the import ban was lifted.

Second Czech BSE case this year confirmed
CZECH REPUBLIC - Beef production in the Czech Republic took a blow this week, after a new case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) was confirmed in a herd within the country - the second outbreak of its kind this year.

BSE inconclusive not expected to disrupt progress with Japan
US - USDA yesterday announced it had an "inconclusive" result on a rapid test for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) for a cow at an undisclosed location. Tissue samples have been sent to USDA for confirmatory testing. Results of those tests are not...

Korea Softens Standard for US Beef
KOREA - South Korea is considering allowing in U.S. beef with bones, a move that will result in its easier access to Korean markets. According to officials at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry on Monday, it would not be a concession because the...

BSE Infection in Slovenian Cow Officially Confirmed
SLOVENIA - The Austrian national laboratory confirmed that a cow from Slovenia which was slaughtered in Austria's Graz in late October had mad cow disease, the Slovenian Veterinary Administration (VURS) said in a press released on Monday, 6 November....