The US government is banning downer cattle - animals unable to walk on their own at the slaughter plant - from being used as food for humans, Agriculture Secretary Ms Ann Venman said today.
The Agriculture Department will continue "aggressive surveillance" of cattle for neurological ailments that could signal mad cow disease, Ms Veneman said at a news conference.
Meat from those animals cannot be sold until tests show they are free of mad cow disease, she said.
Ms Veneman said processors also would be barred from using the small intestine from cattle in human food. She said a new regulation would be written to assure spinal tissue is not included in meat products as a result of so-called meat recovery systems.
The USDA is investigating the cause of the first US case of mad cow disease, also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).
The disease was found in a Holstein dairy cow in Washington state last week.