There was only one case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) found this week, the Department of Agriculture and Food said yesterday.
The single case, an eight-year-old animal from a dairy herd in Cork, brought the total number of cases uncovered so far this year to 120. This compares favourably to the 215 cases which had been recorded by this time last year, the highest year on record.
As with the majority of cases now being identified, the new case was found in the active surveillance programme.
This involves testing a proportion of sick animals at knackeries and all animals aged over 30-months-old destined for human consumption. This increased testing was ordered by the the Irish EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, Mr David Byrne, in 2000.
He ordered the increased testing of animals not bound for human consumption to determine the true extent of BSE within the EU.
It was initiated here in July 2000 and the over 30-month testing of cattle at meat plants began on January 2nd, 2001.
Within the State, just over 1.69 million tests have been carried out so far under the active surveillance programme.
Irish veterinary experts are convinced that Ireland is well on its way to eradicating the disease completely from the national herd. This is because virtually all of the animals now being identified were born before the full range of controls preventing contaminated animal rations reaching animals became fully operational in late 1997.
Meanwhile, Japan, where BSE was first identified in 2001, has become involved in a bitter dispute with the United States having imposed a huge increase in import duty on chilled beef imports which have risen sharply. The United States meat industry said the increase in tariffs from 38.5 per cent to 50 per cent, which will run to the end of next March, will cost the US beef industry between $100-$120 million.
Beef consumption in Japan recovered following multi-million dollar campaigns funded by the US and Australia to 90 per cent of pre-BSE levels. The US has a 30 per cent market share of the Japanese beef market, where it sells 246,606 tonnes of beef and veal.