BSE Investigation Is Finished

USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the Food and Drug Administration have completed their investigations regarding a cow that tested positive for BSE in June. The agencies did a trace on animals of interest associated with the index cow, a 12-year-old Brahman cross from Texas.  No other cases were found nor was the source of contaminated feed, leading officials to believe the infection came from feed consumed prior to the 1997 feed ban. 

The animal was sold through a livestock sale in November of 2004, transported to a packing plant and was dead upon arrival.  It was then shipped to a pet food plant where it was sampled for BSE. The plant did not use the animal in its product, and the carcass was destroyed.

APHIS attempted to trace all adult animals that left the index farm after 1990, as well as all progeny born within two years of the index animal’s death. Most had entered the slaughter channel.  The feed history investigation identified 21 feeds or feed supplements that were used on the farm since 1990. These feed ingredients were purchased from three retail feed stores and were manufactured at nine feed mills. The investigation found that no feed or feed supplements used on the farm since 1997 were formulated to contain prohibited mammalian protein.