010707 First Case of Mad Cow Disease Hits Greece

Athens, Greece Greece said it had confirmed its first case of mad cow disease and had destroyed the herd to which the five-year-old dairy cow belonged.

Greek Agriculture Minister George Anomeritis said a cow had tested positive for the disease at a slaughterhouse in the northern Greek city of Serres during what are now routine examinations conducted under European Union rules.

It was the furthest east in Europe that a confirmed case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), linked to the human brain-wasting Creutzfeldt- Jakob Disease, had been found.

Beef consumption has been hit hard across Europe over the past year as BSE has spread across the continent. Greek consumers have been among the most keen to shun the meat for health reasons.

Anomeritis said the Holstein cow came from a farm in the northern Greek area of Kilkis and that the whole herd of about 150 cattle had now been destroyed.

A veterinarian at the slaughterhouse told Greek television the cow was bred in Greece from a cow imported from the Netherlands.

Anomeritis said that the cow had not been fed bone meal, blamed by many for the spread of BSE, during 1996 and 1997 when it possibly became infected.

The minister said the cow had not shown any symptoms of the disease but had been identified during regular testing, increasingly strict after January when new EU rules applied.

EU rules require all cattle over the age of 30 months to be tested before their meat can enter the food chain. Anomeritis said only one in a batch of 34 brain samples tested had been positive.

After the initial test, a sample was sent for additional testing and came back positive again, he said.

CONSUMPTION RISING

The report of a new case of the disease came as EU officials noted the first indications of a rise in consumer demand for beef after a plunge in confidence accompanied the disease's spread across the continent.

Cases of BSE began rising in France last year then showed up in Germany and spread elsewhere, triggering a large slump in beef consumption.

Recent EU data showed consumption down 8.8% across the 15-nation bloc from a year earlier. Figures compiled in May showed a 10% decrease compared with 25% earlier in the year.

Greek consumption was still down 15% in the EU's latest figures. Greek meat producers said in March that beef consumption was down as much as 90% in some areas.

As well as France and Germany, mad cow disease has also been identified in Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Switzerland, as well as Britain where the disease has had the most impact.

A single case was reported in the Czech Republic last month, bringing BSE into eastern Europe for the first time.

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