MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

“Possible” third case of mad cow in US

United States Agriculture Department is looking into a “possible” new case of mad cow in the country.

John Clifford from the USDA Veterinary Department said that additional tests are been done to samples of an animal which supposedly was born and raised in United States.

"The brain reactions to tests do not correspond to normal reactions, so that's why we've requested further testing", said Mr. Clifford.

However he refused to disclose where the farm is located since "so far we have no proven case of mad cow".

But he did reveal it was a twelve year old animal, therefore born before the 1997 ban on meat meal mixes for feed lots, which was identified as the origin of the many cases reported in the nineties in Europe, particularly Britain.

If tests are positive, it would be the third proven case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, BSE.

The first case was reported in December 2003 originated in a live heifer imported from Canada, and the second last June in an old cow from Texas.