The discovery of nine new cases of BSE this week brings to 229 the number of cases so far this year. None of the animals identified with the disease this week was born after Ireland's ban on feeding meat and bonemeal became fully operative in 1996.
There were two six-year-old cases, five seven-year-old animals and two eight-year-olds; all but one came from diary herds.
As in previous weeks, the majority of the new cases were discovered at knackeries where sick or injured animals were taken for destruction. Most cases this year have been found in this way rather than by vets on farms.
Since January 1st the so called active surveillance system has brought forward a total of 155 of the 229 recorded cases.
A total of 356,067 tests for the disease has been carried out at knackeries and on animals over 30 months old which were being slaughtered in meat plants for the food chain. Of the 155 cases found in the active surveillance system, 132 were "fallen" or sick animals and two more were animals which had died on farms.
Twenty-one of the positive cases were found in cows being slaughtered in meat plants where mandatory tests are carried out on all beasts over 30 months of age. Three of the cases found this week were in Meath herds and there were cases found in herds in Tipperary, Cavan, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Dublin, which produced its first case this year.
Meanwhile, a Department of Agriculture and Food delegations is returning this weekend from Egypt, which closed its markets to Irish beef because of BSE in 2000.
While Egypt, which had been Ireland's largest non-EU customer for beef up to December 2000, has said it will allow Irish beef imports again, little has been exported because Ireland is no longer able to compete on price against countries such as India, Australia and Argentina.