USDA has concluded its investigation of the first case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in the United States. The department was able to locate only 28 of the 80 Canadian-born animals likely to have eaten the same potentially infected feed given to the Washington state Holstein. W. Ron DeHaven, USDA chief veterinary officer, said, “We never expected to be able to find all of them. It's remarkable we found as many as we did.”

Meanwhile, USDA has reopened the comment period on a rule concerning the import of animals and animal products from countries with a minimal risk of BSE. The rule, if finalized, would allow certain classes of live cattle from Canada to be imported into the U.S. Canadian live cattle were banned from the U.S. beginning May 20, 2003, following Canada's BSE case.