The third U.S. case of mad cow disease has been greeted with a relative lack of concern by foreign importers-a sign that buyers of American beef are confident the product is safe, an Agriculture Department spokesman said Tuesday. The latest infected cow came from a herd in Alabama, but was never scheduled to enter the U.S. food chain, the department confirmed. The case was the first "mad cow" found since November 2004. Department spokesman Ed Loyd said in a statement that "there has been a very measured reaction to the announcement." He added that the measured response is a sign that there is "an increasing understanding worldwide of (the) safety of U.S. beef." Lody credited "very strong, interlocking safeguards," that have been in place since 1997 to prevent any beef contaminated with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) from entering the food chain. The Japanese agriculture ministry, which recently re-imposed a ban on U.S. beef, said the Alabama cow would not effect current negotiations to resume the beef trade. In related remarks, Senate Agriculture Committee chairman Saxby Chambliss (Republican from Georgia) said U.S. beef "is absolutely safe and should be imported to every country around the world."
