The US Department of Agriculture has said its National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) in Ames, Iowa, have determined that the inconclusive BSE screening test sample revealed last week has tested negative for BSE, or mad cow disease, in confirmatory tests.
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The USDA said last week that an inconclusive BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) test result was received on a rapid screening test used as part of its BSE surveillance programme.
“The 18 November sample is the first that has tested inconclusive under an APHIS protocol announced in August that calls for public reporting of screening results only after two reactive screens,” said John Clifford, deputy administrator of the Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).
Clifford said negative results from both immunohistochemistry (IHC) tests “makes us confident that the animal in question is indeed negative for BSE”.
The US beef industry is still suffering after-effects, including foreign trade restrictions, from the discovery of a single case of BSE in Washington state last December.
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