Croatia has detected a possible first case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in a cow slaughtered last week, the agriculture ministry said on Thursday.
“Unfortunately, I have the ungrateful task to inform you that there is well-founded suspicion of BSE in one cow,” Agriculture Minister Petar Cobankovic told a news conference.
He said veterinary services had done three series of quick prion tests which indicated positive results on a five-year-old cow from a private farm in eastern Croatia, but confirmation could only come from Weybridge laboratory in the United Kingdom.
“We have informed the European Commission and the brain samples will soon be sent to Weybridge,” Cobankovic said.
The result of that testing is expected next week.
The ministry said the cow was born on a private farm in eastern Croatia from a mother of foreign origin. State television earlier reported parents were from Austria but Cobankovic refused to confirm this.
The ministry did not reveal the farm’s location but said the slaughterhouse where the cow had been killed was immediately disinfected and banned from further slaughtering.
“If the result from Weybridge is positive, the whole herd to which the cow belonged will be culled,” Cobankovic said, adding there was no fear that the dead cow’s meat, or any other meat infected with BSE, could reach the market.
“Citizens should have no fear. The system is functioning. What they should avoid is buying meat from illegally slaughtered animals at the black market,” he said.
Under a law valid in Croatia since 2001, meat from all cows older than 30 months undergoes quick prion tests before going to the market. Croatia also banned the use of meat-and-bone meal in 1997.
Cobankovic said he did not expect economic damage from this case as Croatia imports cattle from the European Union and is therefore regarded as having the same risk status.
“We do not expect the EU will ban imports of Croatian beef,” he added.