1-“Since 1996, evidence has been increasing for a causal relationship between the outbreak in Europe of a disease in cattle, called bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or “mad cow disease”), and a disease in humans, called “variant” Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD).
Both disorders are invariably fatal brain diseases with unusually long incubation periods measured in years, and are caused by abnormally folded proteins in the brain called “prions” (pree-ons). ”
Cattle affected by BSE experience progressive degeneration of the nervous system. Signs usually don’t appear until about 3–6 years after initial infection.
The highest quality beef comes from animals that are under 36 months of age. Old cows produce highly acceptable beef if properly fattened and processed but know there is testing cows for it before making it food on our table.
Know this BSE belongs to a family of diseases known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies that includes, among others, scrapie in sheep and goats; chronic wasting disease in deer, elk, and moose; and classic and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in people.”
1-Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-CDC (https://www.cdc.gov/prions/index.html)
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2-CHICAGO (Reuters) states – On May 19,2023 they stated “The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced on Friday an atypical case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), commonly called mad cow disease, in an older beef cow at a slaughter plant in South Carolina.
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3-“We know that the earliest point at which current tests can accurately detect BSE is 2-to-3 months before the animal begins to show symptoms. The time between initial infection and the appearance of symptoms is about 5 years. Since most cattle that go to slaughter in the United States are both young and clinically normal, testing all slaughter cattle for BSE might offer misleading assurances of safety to the public.
The carcasses from the tested animals are held and not allowed to enter the human food chain until test results show the samples are negative for Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE or Mad Cow Disease).”
3-U.S.D.A US Dept of Agriculture (https://www.usda.gov/topics/animals/bse-surveillance-information-center)
“Currently, there is no test to detect the disease in a live animal or in muscle meat products. BSE can only be confirmed by microscopic examination of brain tissue from the animal after its death using sophisticated laboratory techniques.”
3-U.S.D.A (https://ask.usda.gov/s/article/how-do-cattle-get-bovine-spongiform-encephalopathy)
Their is no standard testing before each cow including other wild life animals listed at the top that go on our plate sold in stores for food? Another thought, In the United States and the European Union, cows are typically slaughtered for beef between the ages of 18 months and 30 months. In the United States, most cows are slaughtered at around 24-30 months of age, although some may be slaughtered as young as 18 months; cows are about 5 yrs old when symptoms start showing. No regular testing on all cows used for meat for BSE no matter how low the incidence in US due to spreading can occur; really? Quite interesting but know based on statistics you have a 1 in a million chance getting this & it seems by history you have more of a chance in the mid to mid west area of US.