Amid people's heightened concern about the illness, the Ministry of Agriculture has completed a "Risk Analysis and Assessment of BSE in China" in line with the principles and requirements of the International Animal Health Code, according to Jia Youling, director of the ministry's Bureau of Animal Production and Health.

"It is almost impossible that the ailment will find its way into China through imported cows and use of meat and bone meal (MBM), which researchers have linked with the spread of mad cow disease," Jia said, quoting the findings of the year-long analysis.

The research was conducted by the National BSE Test Centre, which the ministry established in 1998 to help keep the disease out of China, according to Zhao Weining, another official of the bureau.

Mad cow disease was first diagnosed in Britain in 1986. China responded in 1990 by banning imports of European cattle and most cattle products, and two years later forbidding the use of feeds derived from ruminants to feed ruminants, Zhao said.

Between 1992 and 1999, China imported 12,639 tons of foreign-made MBM, 0.6 percent of the country's total production during the period. Less than three tons were from European countries such as Italy, the Netherlands and Denmark, according to the BSE risk analysis.

"In China, meat and bone meal is mainly used to feed non-ruminants, such as pigs and chicken," said Jia. "The main source of protein for Chinese cattle is forage grass and hay."

The official said the country had introduced 2,863 breeding cattle from Japan, Canada, the United States and Australia between 1992 to 1999.

These animals, which have gone through strict quarantine and were isolated for long-term observation when imported, have not been found to have any symptoms of BSE, Jia said.

Imports of beef and mutton have not exceeded 34 tons a year since 1993 because prices for domestic meat except chicken have been much lower than on the international market, and most Chinese people prefer pork, according to the BSE risk analysis.

Instead of being processed into MBM as in some European countries, most animal carcasses in China have been used for human food, another factor reducing the risk of BSE infection in China, the ministry's document notes.

In Britain and other European countries, BSE cases have occurred almost exclusively in dairy cattle farms, and 89 percent of the cases were cows of about four years old, according to Jia.

(China Daily 02/15/2001)