A case of "atypical" mad cow disease has been detected in a slaughterhouse in South Carolina, announced Friday, May 18, the US Department of Agriculture.
The animal "never entered the slaughter line and at no time posed a risk to the food chain or human health in the United States," the ministry said in a statement, without specifying the date of this discovery. The United States has a "negligible risk status" with respect to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), the degenerative infection of the central nervous system of cattle also known as mad cow disease, "and we do not expect any commercial impact as a result of this discovery," the ministry said.
The 7th case detected in 20 years
This is the 7th case of BSE detected in the United States in 20 years. All but one were atypical, i.e. related to the aging of animals and not at risk of transmission to humans. Mad cow disease first appeared in Britain in the 1980s and spread to many countries in Europe and the rest of the world, leading to a crisis in the beef industry.
This disease can lead to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a fatal neurodegenerative syndrome, in humans, by ingestion of meat or offal.
