10. 09. 10. - 12:00

Dead cow had BSE, test shows

Austria has been hit by the eighth case of mad-cow disease (BSE) this year.

The federal health ministry announced today (Fri) post mortem tests have shown that a 15-year-old cow which died of old age on a farm in the Lower Austrian district of Wiener Neustadt had the disease.

The ministry, headed by Social Democrat (SPÖ) Alois Stöger, stressed customers’ health had not been endangered since none of the animal's meat had gone on sale.

Meanwhile, People’s Party (ÖVP) Environment Minister Nikolaus Berlakovich unveiled plans to set up a country-wide egg-farming database.

Berlakovich’s initiative comes after it emerged that a Styrian firm imported substandard eggs from Poland and Hungary to sell them as local products.

The minister said he thought of the already existing anti-BSE database as an example for the planned egg-trading platform.

Berlakovich said all traders and sellers of eggs will have to inform authorities about their business activities by entering sale figures and other information in the database.

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