USA – The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has put a holding order on a dairy facility in Mattawa, Washington after it found one cow came from the same herd as that identified as having Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE).

This follows the indefinite suspension from trading of two facilities after a dairy cow at a slaughter plant in Moses Lake, Washington was found to have BSE. After further testing at the BSE world reference laboratory in Weybridge, UK a quarantine was placed on a herd in Mabton, Washington, where the index cow had last been located.

The size of the problem has spread as cows from the index herd have been identified at different locations across the USA, leading to the introduction of additional safeguards to bolster the country’s protection system against BSE.

One of the new regulations will be a system of national animal identification, to be implemented immediately.

Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said: “While we are confident that the United States has safeguards and firewalls needed to protect public health, these additional actions will further strengthen our protection systems.”