Speculation about Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) have shown that there are problems in Croatian cattle breading such as an illegal market and illegal slaughterhouses.
The Croatian Agriculture Ministry, which in cooperation with the police has launched an investigation into the entire case, on Thursday issued a press release explaining some details of the scandal.
It has been established that the suspect cow had false papers. A middleman bought Sana in Ivankovo and sold it to an illegal slaughterhouse which in the meantime was closed. The middleman gave Sana's documentation and tag to another cow which he eventually sold to the Pivac meat-processing company in the southern town of Vrgorac.
The tissue of that cow was analysed three times, twice in Croatia, where laboratories established that it might have contracted BSE. However, the final and competent analysis in the British laboratory showed that the tests were negative and that the cow in question had no mad cow disease.
Due to Sana's documentation, which was unlawfully given to the suspect cow, the Ivankovo farm came into the limelight. The owner claimed that he had never spotted anything suspicious in his cattle or Sana.
This fact and some other leads prompted relevant bodies to launch a thorough investigation.
Tissue of Sana's calves was subjected to DNA analysis in Osijek where it was established that it did not correspond to the DNA of the tissue of 'the suspect cow', which was tested for mad cow disease thrice. In this way it was once again confirmed that Sana from Ivankovo was not the cow in question as well as that no cow in Croatia has BSE.
The entire scandal has prompted the competent authorities to launch stringent measures against the illegal market. Consequently, seven slaughterhouses which had some omissions in their functioning were closed in two days.
The Ministry will inform the publif of ither results of its campaing next week.