France Confirms First Isolated Case Of Mad Cow Disease Since 2011

One case of mad cow disease has been discovered in the northeastern part of France, its agriculture ministry confirms.

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) was identified last week by French officials in Ardennes, when a test involved cattle older than 48 months.

"A suspected case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), detected in a 5-year-old cow, which died prematurely at a cattle farm in Ardennes, was confirmed on March 23 by the European Union reference laboratory," the ministry said.

While assuring the public on its website that beef is safe, as the infected parts have to be removed in slaughter houses, its exports may get affected, as the official BSE risk level assigned by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) would get altered.

"Depending on countries, export conditions of French cattle could be modified," the ministry said.

BSE can lead to Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, a degenerative brain disorder in humans that lead to death.

Once they found that the disease was connected to the use of infected remains recycled for animal feed, various safeguards were put in place to keep it from spreading out.

OIE data indicates that isolated cases have been discovered since 2011, including six cases in 2015, including in Ireland, Canada, Norway and Slovenia, as well as two in Britain, a steep fall from 1,957 cases in 2000. Hence, there is no indication from the French case that the disease will return at any time.

"The risk management and monitoring systems set up in the early 2000s have shown their effectiveness considering the drastic reduction of cases," the spokeswoman said.