A dairy cow from Kanagawa Prefecture is highly likely to have been infected with mad cow disease, officials said Saturday.
The case was identified during the government-led initiative to test all cows for human consumption for the disease, formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy. Final confirmation is expected when the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry hears the opinions of experts on Sunday.
If confirmed, it would raise the number of cows infected with the disease in Japan to 10. The previous case was that of a cow in Hiroshima Prefecture in early November.