Taipei, July 19 (CNA) Taiwan's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said Wednesday that it will not ban beef imports from the United States, where a fifth case of mad cow disease was confirmed the previous day.
The infected cow was 11 years old and posed no immediate threat to human health since Taiwan's beef imports from the U.S. are limited to boneless and bone-in beef and specified meat products from cattle under 30 months, said FDA section chief Wu Tsung-hsi.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the cow in Alabama tested positive for the atypical type of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also known as mad cow disease.
"This animal never entered slaughter channels and at no time presented a risk to the food supply, or to human health in the United States," the USDA said.
It was the U.S.' fifth case of mad cow disease this year , the USDA said, adding that of the four previous cases, the first was a case of classical BSE that was imported from Canada, while the others were atypical (H- or L-type) BSE.
