'Atypical' mad cow disease found in Alabama animal: USDA

Chicago

AN "atypical" variety of the animal illness known as mad cow disease was found in an 11-year-old Alabama animal, the US Department of Agriculture said on Tuesday. The case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy was detected during routine surveillance at a livestock market, the USDA said on Tuesday in a statement. The cow was kept from slaughter channels and "at no time" posed a risk to the food supply, the agency said.

The atypical variety differs from "classical" BSE linked to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in people, according to the USDA. In the four previous findings of BSE in the US, one case in Washington state in December 2003 was classical, involving a cow brought in from Canada. That roiled global cattle markets and spurred several countries to ban US beef. Earlier this year, China reopened access to US beef imports for the first time since that notorious episode.