31.   Nevertheless, Hamamoto said the ministry will send officials to Amsterdam this week to investigate whether infected cattle parts were mingled with the fat.

32.   No fresh cases have been found in the six days since infected cattle were discovered in northwestern France on a farm neighboring fields grazed by sheep imported from Britain.

33.   She said three people in Tbilisi had been infected with the disease, which can be transmitted from infected cattle and is characterized by black pustules.

34.   Some earlier studies have failed to find prions in the meat of infected cattle, although it was present in their brains and nerve tissue.

35.   The Canadian agency said the ban was a precautionary step and there is no evidence mad cow disease has infected Brazilian cattle.

36.   The disease usually comes from infected cattle.

37.   The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said the ban was a precautionary step and there is no evidence mad cow disease has infected Brazilian cattle.

38.   The EU imposed the ban after the government announced in March that several humans probably caught a fatal brain disease from infected cattle.

39.   The disease can be spread through even minimal contact with infected cattle, sheep and pigs as well as farm equipment or meat, but humans cannot catch it.

40.   The disease, which eats sponge-like holes into the brains of infected cattle, has been linked to a similar illness in humans.