All three Baltic countries this week imposed temporary bans on imports of beef and beef products from Poland, a key beef importer, after reports of the first case of mad-cow disease in the neighboring country, veterinary officials said.
"Following the information that mad-cow disease was detected in Poland, we have now introduced a temporary ban. When we have official information from Polish institutions, we shall decide what other steps to take," the deputy director of Lithuania's veterinary service, Algis Dranseika, told AFP.
Polish authorities announced on May 4 the country's first case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
So far this year, Lithuania has imported 88 tons of Polish beef, mainly for the McDonald's fast-food chain.
During the first four months of this year Latvia imported 173 tons of Polish beef.
To date, no cases of mad-cow disease have been reported in either Estonia, Latvia or Lithua-nia, but a study by the European Commission last year concluded that the countries had a high risk of exposure to the disease and urged it to step up testing of slaughtered animals.
Some scientists believe that the human equivalent of mad-cow disease, new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, is transmitted to humans through eating beef from infected cattle.
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