Authorities in Brazil have confirmed a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) – or mad cow disease – and have suspended beef exports to China.
Yesterday (Wednesday, February 22) it was reported that the country’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock was awaiting laboratory results from a suspected case of BSE.
The ministry has since confirmed that this case is in fact BSE. The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) has been alerted.
Samples from the animal in question have been sent to an OIE reference laboratory in Alberta, Canada, which will confirm if this case of BSE is classical or atypical.
The animal concerned was a nine-year-old male, discovered on a “small property” in the state of Para, in the north of the country.
The ministry said that it “has been adopting all the necessary government measures for the Brazilian meat market”.
In a statement (translated from Portuguese), authorities explained: “The animal, raised on pasture, without feed, was slaughtered and its carcass incinerated on site”.
Brazil’s official veterinary service is carrying out an investigation.
The country’s minister for agriculture Carlos Favaro said: “All measures are being adopted immediately at each stage of the investigation and the matter is being treated with total transparency to guarantee Brazilian and global consumers the recognised quality of our meat.”
The ministry confirmed that, as part of official health protocol, exports to China will be temporarily suspended from today (Thursday, February 23).
Dialogue between Brazilian and Chinese authorities “is being intensified to demonstrate all the information and the prompt reestablishment of the Brazilian meat trade”, the ministry said.
This is not the first time that exports of beef from Brazil to China have been suspended due to BSE.
In September 2021, beef exports from Brazil to China were temporarily halted after confirmation of two cases of atypical BSE at two different meat processing facilities. China is a major market for Brazilian beef.
A similar situation arose in Ireland in 2020. Beef shipments to China were suspended following the confirmation in May 2020 of an isolated case of atypical BSE in a 14-year-old cow in Co. Tipperary.
This suspension was only lifted last month.
Meanwhile, a case of BSE discovered in a cow in the Netherlands earlier this month has since been confirmed as an atypical case of the disease, according to reports by Dutch media outlet De Telegraaf.
Unlike classical BSE, atypical BSE has been identified more recently and is thought to occur spontaneously and sporadically in older animals, with a low incidence rate.