‘Mad cow’ fears spread to milk, dairy products

After a scare on the safety of beef products, an official of the National Meat Inspection Commission (NMIC) urged a ban on imported dairy products for fear that these may have come from contaminated sources.

NMIC executive director Efren Nuestro made yesterday the appeal amid fears that beef products infected with the deadly mad cow disease may have found their way into the local market.

Nuestro said milk products may also pose another concern because there is no way of knowing, at least in this country, whether the sources of these products have been contaminated.

"We can ban milk products coming from countries affected by mad cow disease because we can’t know whether the source is contaminated," Nuestro said.

Nuestro noted that scientists have not definitely established how the virus is transmitted and suggested that animals’ colostrum may be the source of transmission.

"The milk of an infected cow might be the source of the transmission but milk products are not included in the ban," Nuestro said.

The government in November banned the importation of beef products from Britain, Ireland, Belgium, Denmark, France, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland, Italy, Spain and Germany.

These countries was where reports of widespread cases of mad cow disease were reported.

Scientifically known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, mad cow disease is believed to cause a brain-wasting illness in humans, the variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which has killed some 80 Europeans since the mid-1990s.

Nuestro said it is best for the public to play safe by buying local meat products although he stressed that consumers can safely consume meat from countries not included in the list of affected countries.

Aside from the ban on beef imports from countries affected by mad cow disease, the Department of Agriculture also banned yesterday importation of beef, pork, sheep and goat products from Britain.

Agriculture Secretary Leonardo Montemayor said the order also empowers Customs officials to seize all shipments of foreign livestock and byproducts that they suspect came from Britain.

Montemayor said the ban was due to the outbreak of highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease in Britain where at least 18 cases have been noted over the weekend.

Foot-and-mouth disease, which affects cloven-hoofed animals, is extremely contagious. Although humans do not catch the disease, they can easily carry the virus on their shoes or clothing. – Freeman News Service, Ella Oducayen