January 11, 2001
		Testing reveals higher incidence of mad cow disease than expected Advanced testing for mad cow disease in Belgium has revealed a possible infection rate five times higher than expected. The Belgian Food Safety Agency said on Tuesday that it discovered 14 suspected cases of the disease indicating that one in every 200 cows was infected. Before we started this testing, the scientists here in Belgium thought that one case in 1,000 would be positive," a spokeswoman for the Health Ministry said. In other mad cow news, on January 9, officials in Denmark reported two cases of suspected mad cow disease from the same herd, bringing their total to three. Cattle feed, containing bone meal and other animal products, is being blamed as the cause of contamination. Mad cow panic has gripped the European Union. Earlier this week, Australia and New Zealand extended a ban on British beef products to cover 30 European countries. Fears of mad cow disease have also surfaced in Sweden, which has no record of incidence of the disease there. Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson recently voiced doubts about a meat-based diet, and a recent Gallop poll of 1,000 Swedes showed that 23 percent planned to eat less beef, and 14 percent planned to eat less pork.