The US government should ban cattle brains and spinal material in livestock feed and pet food to prevent the spread of mad cow disease, an international panel said today, saying more US cases were probable.
The panel noted there was a "high probability" that other infected cattle have been imported from Canada and possibly Europe. Their report gave no estimate of how many animals, and said that contaminated material from them "has likely" been rendered into cattle feed.
Mad cow disease is spread through livestock feed contaminated with the brain, spinal cord or nervous system tissue, known as specified risk material (SRM), of infected animals.
"All SRM must be excluded from all animal feed, including pet food," the panel's chairman, Mr Urlich Kihm, told a special meeting of USDA officials.
The panel also said the USDA should consider banning from human food the brain and spinal cords from all cattle over 12 months of age. Currently, such material is banned only from cattle over 30 months of age.
The government should ban all animal protein - such as meat and bone meal from rendered animals - from cattle feed, the panel said. Such a ban "is justified partly due to the issues of cross-contamination," it said.