(JP)BSE cows may have eaten same feed, substitute milk

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BSE cows may have eaten same feed, substitute milk

 

Yomiuri Shimbun

Nov 26, 2001

 

The nation's second mad cow disease-infected cow was

likely fed with the same substitute milk and assorted

feed as was fed to the first cow that tested positive

to the disease, it was learned Sunday.

 

This information comes from the dairy farmer in

Sarufutsumura, northern Hokkaido, who raised and

shipped the second cow that tested positive for bovine

spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).

 

The first cow tested positive for BSE in September. It

was born on a farm in Saromacho, Hokkaido.

 

The substitute milk fed to both cattle as calves has

been traced to a Tokyo-based feed manufacturer, while

the assorted feed, which is fed to calves until they

reach three months of age, was manufactured by several

plants of a major Hokkaido company.

 

Officials of the inspection center for fertilizer and

feed, which is affiliated with the Agriculture,

Forestry and Fisheries Ministry, conducted inspections

Sunday of a Kanto factory and a Hokkaido plant.

 

The substitute milk allegedly contained animal oils

and fats as well as blood plasma protein extracted

from pigs, which was completely banned from

distribution Oct. 4. This ban was lifted Nov. 1 except

for the use of cattle feed.

 

According to industry sources, the second cow was

almost certain to have been raised on the feed

produced at the Hokkaido plant inspected Sunday.

 

The Hokkaido government's agricultural policy

department, in its efforts to determine the facts in

the case, is examining records at the agricultural

cooperatives that sold the feed to the Sarufutsumura

farmer.

 

Although the feed that is suspected of having been fed

to the two cows did not contain meat and bone meal

(MBM)--widely seen as the likeliest source of the

agent that causes BSE--the plant reportedly produced

feed containing MBM for pigs and chickens in the same

line as that used to produce the assorted feed for

cattle.

 

Although MBM is cooked, the abnormal prions, or

abnormally shaped proteins, that cause BSE are highly

resistant to heat.

 

Copyright 2001 The Yomiuri Shimbun

 

 

 

 

 

 

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