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Ranchers.net

TOKYO (AFX) - Japan confirmed its 25th case of mad cow disease, amid growing US pressure on Tokyo to resume US beef imports stopped twice over fears of the brain-wasting disease.

A female Holstein from a farm in the western prefecture of Okayama was confirmed by the health ministry to be infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).

It tested positive in a general screening when it was slaughtered two days ago and the ministry's expert panel on the disease confirmed the infection, the ministry said in a statement.

'Its meat, internal organs and other parts will be incinerated and will not be distributed to the market,' the statement said.

The latest cases of BSE, which decimated the UK's cattle industry in the 1990s, emerged amid a row over Tokyo's renewed ban on US beef due to safety concerns.

Japan halted imports of US beef in December 2003 after a cow infected with BSE was discovered in the US state of Washington. Before then, the country had been the top export market for US beef.

In December last year Japan resumed beef imports after coming under intense pressure from Washington, its closest ally.

But it slapped a new ban on imported US beef on January 20 after a shipment violated Japanese safety guidelines requiring the removal of risky body parts.

Japan is the only Asian country to have confirmed BSE cases. Its first case was discovered in September 2001, prompting the government to screen every cow slaughtered for consumption -- a step not taken by the US.

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