Despite a rise in beef consumption in Japan, the health ministry remains on alert over the deadly mad cow disease one month after a screening program began for all cows in Japan, according to ministry officials.
Officials with the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said they are "still on guard" about the disease as most of the cows that have been examined and shipped to market are young and therefore have a lower risk of having contracted the disease.
On Oct. 18, the ministry began a nationwide screening of all cows for human consumption, following the confirmed discovery of Japan's first case -- and the first outside Europe -- of the brain-wasting illness in September.