The nation's fourth case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE),
sometimes referred to as "mad cow disease," has been confirmed in a
dairy cow in central California, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said
Tuesday.
The carcass was at a Baker Commodities Inc. rendering facility in Hanford, California, according to Executive Vice President Dennis Luckey.
The company renders animal byproducts and had randomly selected the animal for testing last Wednesday, he said.
"We are in the business of removing dead animals from dairies in the Central Valley," he told CNN in a telephone interview. "As part of that program, we participate in the BSE surveillance program."
Public health officials said the risk to public was extremely low.
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