Mad Cow Case Found In California

The nation's fourth-ever case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy has been found in California.

The carcass was at a Baker Commodities Inc. rendering facility in Hanford, California, according to Executive Vice President Dennis Luckey. The company renders animal byproducts and had randomly selected the animal for testing last Wednesday, he said. "We are in the business of removing dead animals from dairies in the Central Valley," he told CNN in a telephone interview. "As part of that program, we participate in the BSE surveillance program." Public health officials said the risk to public was extremely low. Last year, 29 cases of BSE were reported worldwide, down 99% since the peak of 37,311 cases in 1992.