Food Safety

File Under Yikes: Mad Cow Disease Found in California Dairy Cow

Got untainted milk?
Got untainted milk? Photo: iStock Photo

The fourth ever known U.S. case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, a.k.a. mad cow disease, has been discovered and confirmed by the USDA in a central California dairy cow. The USDA is quick to assure us that this cow “was never presented for slaughter for human consumption, so at no time presented a risk to the food supply or human health.” Also, you can’t get mad cow from milk, so the USDA is also quick to proclaim that their “systems and safeguards to prevent BSE are working” and that this discovery shouldn’t affect the U.S. beef trade. (Live cattle futures and McDonald’s stock nonetheless tumbled today.) But, uh, yeah. Ick. [Reuters, HuffPo] Update: The sample was taken from a deceased cow found in Hanford, California, and was a random test sample. [AP/HuffPo]

File Under Yikes: Mad Cow Disease Found in California Dairy Cow