A farm ministry panel has concluded that the outbreak of mad cow disease in Japan was probably caused by cattle feed made from imported British cows or feed made in Italy in the 1980s, ministry sources said Sunday.
The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry panel believes 14 cows imported in 1982 and 1987 from Britain, where an outbreak of the brain-wasting bovine spongiform encephalopathy had occurred, or cattle feed imported from Italy may have caused mad cow disease in Japan in 2001.
But the sources said the panel was unable to determine the specific infection route. It will compile a final report Tuesday and submit it to the ministry.