Government reports 1 case of mad cow disease on Dutch farm

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Dutch government says a cow that died recently on a Dutch farm has tested positive for mad cow disease, in a rare case of the cattle illness that can cause a fatal brain disease in people who eat tainted beef. Agriculture Minister Piet Adema said in a letter to lawmakers Wednesday that the farm where the cow died has been sealed off. He added that the infected animal “did not get into the food chain and does not constitute a risk to food safety.” Formally called bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, the disease first broke out in the late 1980s in Britain, where hundreds of people fell ill and many died after eating contaminated meat.