Authorities in Saudi Arabia have banned the importation of cow from Spain following the detection of mad cow disease at a number of farms, according to an official from the Department of Animal Risk Assessment.
In a statement to the Saudi Press Agency, the Director-General of the department noted that the ban was implemented after receiving a notification from the Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).
In late November, Spain first reported that a case of atypical bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) was detected at a farm in the Castile and Leon region near the border with Portugal.
Another case was reported at a farm in the same region in March of 2017.
In 1996, the discovery of BSE in British cows prompted the European Union to order a worldwide embargo of beef products after it was discovered that BSE can be transmitted to humans as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
Follow us on
