By Alabama Public Radio
Montgomery, AL – A cow in Alabama has tested positive for mad cow disease. John Clifford, the Federal Agriculture Department's chief veterinarian, says the animal was a beef cow but had not entered the food supply for people or animals. A routine test last week indicated the presence of the disease. Clifford says the results were confirmed by more detailed testing at a government laboratory in Ames, Iowa.
U-S investigators have found two previous cases of mad cow disease. The first was in December 2003 in a Canadian-born cow in Washington state. The second was last June in a cow that was born and raised in Texas.
Clifford said the cow spent the past year at an Alabama farm and the department is investigating where the animal was born and raised. He said the animal appears to have been at least ten years old.