The United States on Monday confirmed a third case of mad cow disease in a beef cow in a farm of Alabama State.

The discovery of the sick cow is a result of an enhanced surveillance program. The following is cited from USDA for those who would like to know a bit about the USDA mad cow disease surveillance program.

Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) Surveillance Plan

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), in cooperation with the Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), has developed an outline for an intensive national BSE surveillance plan. This one-time effort will give a snapshot of the cattle population in the US and help to define whether BSE is actually present in the population and if so, at what level. The goal of this plan is to test as many cattle in the targeted high-risk population as possible in a 12-18 month period. We will immediately initiate actions to ramp up our system and expect to reach full capacity in a 2-3 month period.

Click here for the entire story.