Originally published September 12 2005
U.S. mad cow case likely result of contaminated feed, officials say
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
A federal investigation into what caused the first domestic case of mad cow disease in the United States in June has come to a close, and officials say the Texas cow likely contracted the disease by eating contaminated feed before ground up cattle parts were banned from cattle feed in 1997.
The government closed its investigation into the nation's first domestic case of mad cow disease Tuesday, saying it could not pin down how a Texas cow was infected with the brain-wasting ailment.
Officials continue to believe the 12-year-old Brahma cross cow ate contaminated feed before the United States banned ground-up cattle remains in cattle feed.
``The investigation did not identify a specific feed source as the likely cause of this animal's infection,'' said Steve Sundlof, director of the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Veterinary Medicine.
FDA officials promised last year to close the loopholes; Sundlof said the agency will act within the next two months.
USDA located, killed and tested 67 animals, all of which tested negative for mad cow disease.
In all, the government traced 413 animals in its investigation.
Also Tuesday, officials agreed to let the industry run a nationwide system of tracking the movements of cows, pigs and chickens from birth to the dinner table.
The Agriculture Department had vowed to hustle the system into place after discovering the nation's first case of mad cow disease in December 2003 in an imported cow believed to have been infected in Canada, where it was born.
The move was applauded by the dominant cattle ranchers' group, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, which is creating its own tracking system and hopes the department will rely on it.
``Protection of producers' rights and confidentiality is a top priority, and the industry is best equipped to do this,'' said Mike John, a Missouri cattle producer and president-elect of the group.
An industry-run system is unlikely to reassure consumers in the U.S. and abroad that their beef is safe, said Carol Tucker Foreman, director of food policy at Consumer Federation of America.
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