EU attempts to soothe mad cow fears

The EU has appealed to consumers not to panic after evidence surfaced that mad cow disease may be more widespread than previously believed.

Suspected cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) have been recently uncovered in Austria, Spain, Germany, Belgium and in an Italian slaughterhouse which supplies McDonald's with beef.

The European Commission is pleading for calm, saying the discovery of new cases is a natural result of the expanded testing programme it ordered the 15 EU nations to launch on New Year's Day.

EC spokeswoman Beate Gminder said: "The results should be no surprise for us. Everybody has to be vigilant in protecting the consumer but there is no reason to create fear among people".

If confirmed, the suspected case in Austria's Tyrol province would be a first in the country. Italy had been clear since two infected cows imported from Britain were found in 1994.

Five confirmed cases have been found Spain since October while Belgium reported two new cases Monday bringing the national total to 21.

Germany, long proud of its safe record, was shocked by a first case in November. Since then wider testing has uncovered over a dozen infected animals.

EU officials stress that the "second mad-cow crisis," which began in France last October and quickly spread to Germany and other EU nations, remains on a much smaller scale to the epidemic which swept through British herds in the late 1980s and early 1990s.