Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy in Brazil

The world's largest exporter of beef announced earlier this month that found an outlier from the evil of "mad cow" disease, which raises concerns about the impact on their sales.

Saudi Arabia on Tuesday joined four other countries have restricted imports of Brazilian beef, after the country earlier this month announced the presence of an outlier from the evil of "mad cow", generating concern the impacts of the world's largest exporter sales.

The Arab country joined Japan, China and South Africa who had suspended purchases. Egypt announced a partial embargo only after detection of the case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE). This is a chronic disease of the nervous system that affects main cattle.

The infectious agent in BSE is believed to be a specific type of misfolded protein called a prion. Prions will not disappear even if the beef containing them is cooked. Prion proteins carry the disease between individuals and cause deterioration of the brain. BSE is a type of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy.

The suspensions occur even though the Brazilian government has said that in the country there is no record of the disease, but an atypical case that occurred in 2010. From January to October, Saudi Arabia imported 31,300 tonnes of beef from Brazil, with a total of 1.02 million tons exported, representing about $ 143.5 million.

"People can say that the volume is still very expressive, but has border that are very important countries like Iran and Egypt, then maybe you can be brewing cascade or domino effect," said analyst Alex Lopes da Silva of Scot discuss the case of Saudi Arabia.

Source: Emol.cl