Department of Agriculture and Forestry, State of Louisiana - Mike Strain DVM, Commissioner

Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF) Commissioner Mike Strain, D.V.M., said that the discovery of a cow in California with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) will not pose any threat to the nation’s food supply.

The California dairy cow is the fourth such case of BSE ever found in the United States and the first since 2006, Strain said.

“The illness in the cow was detected by regular United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) sample testing,” Strain said. “The safeguards that the USDA has in place are doing their job and I am confident that the USDA responded properly. The food supply is safe because the system worked.”

Strain said the USDA has conducted a comprehensive BSE surveillance program since the mid-1990s.

More information on the subject may be found at the the USDA’s website at http://tinyurl.com/6sp9d45.

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