Agriculture Department Receives Federal Funding To Prevent Mad Cow Disease

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - The Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDOA) will receive more than a million dollars in federal funding to conduct important inspections for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), otherwise known as mad cow disease.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has entered into a cooperative agreement with the department that will provide a total of $1,244,960 over the next five years to ensure cattle feed produced and used in Illinois does not contain ingredients that could transmit the rare brain-wasting disease.  Illinois was one of twelve states to receive federal funding in this cooperative agreement.

"For nearly 20 years, our inspectors have been contracted by the FDA to inspect feed mills and feed manufacturing plants across the state," Agriculture Director Tom Jennings said.

"But this agreement will allow us to maintain our expanded on-farm surveillance efforts.  We believe these inspections provide additional assurance to consumers and our agricultural trading partners that Illinois beef is safe to eat."

Feed contaminated with tissue from the nervous system of infected cattle is believed to spread BSE.  Therefore, the FDA has prohibited the use of ruminant protein in feed for cattle and other ruminant animals since 1997.  The department enforces this prohibition in Illinois through regular inspections.

Over the past two years under a similar agreement, IDOA completed 300 on-farm inspections and 100 non-farm inspections.  More than 1,000 cattle feed samples were collected and analyzed.