30th case of mad cow confirmed

SAPPORO (Kyodo) The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry said Monday that a dairy cow which died earlier this month in Hokkaido has tested positive for mad cow disease, making it Japan's 30th case.

The 5-year, 4-month-old cow, which died in Chitose on Nov. 8, will be incinerated and not enter the human food chain, ministry officials said.

The cow was born on a farm in Chitose in June 2001, before the implementation later that year of a ban on meat-and-bone meal suspected of being a cause of the disease.

It had been suspected of infection in a preliminary test by a livestock hygiene service center in Hokkaido and tested positive in further testing by the National Institute of Animal Health in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture.