U.S. meat industry maintains calm with second confirmed BSE case

U.S. meat industry maintains calm with second confirmed BSE case    The American meat industry urges calm after the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s announcement Friday of a second cow infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease.
   When USDA confirmed the first case of BSE in a Washington state cow on Dec. 23, 2003, most world markets closed their borders to American beef shipments. Many countries have only recently reopened their markets to American beef.
   “Despite this confirmed case of BSE, top scientists, government experts and leaders in the food industry agree that U.S. beef remains very safe and the risk of BSE to humans is near zero,” said Philip M. Seng, president and chief executive officer of the U.S. Meat Export Federation, in a statement. “Strong regulations and firewalls protect consumers, ensuring this animal never entered the food supply.”
   The cow, which reportedly originated in a Texas herd, was singled out in November 2004 during routine USDA surveillance for the disease. It took three tests to determine the cow was actually infected with BSE.
   “We are currently testing nearly 1,000 animals per day as part of our BSE enhanced surveillance program, more than 388,000 total tests, and this is the first confirmed case resulting from our surveillance,” said U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns. “Americans have every reason to continue to be confident in the safety of our beef.”