Every year, 500 to 1,000 bovine brain specimens in Taiwan are tested according to OIE standards and BSE has not been found in the samples, according to officials at the COA's Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine.

The OIE has since 2005 listed BSE-free countries in two categories - those with a "negligible risk" and those with a "controlled risk."

Taiwan is listed as a country with a "controlled risk" mainly because it imported meat and bone meal from BSE-infected countries, the officials explained.

The feeding of meat and bone meal to cattle is thought to have been responsible for the spread of BSE.

Although Taiwan has since 1997 banned the feeding of ruminant animals with meat and bone meal from other ruminant animals, it only banned imports of the meal on a case-by-case basis based on reports of BSE in the source countries, the officials said.

For example, Taiwan continued to import this meal from the United States until a BSE outbreak occurred in Washington state in 2003, they said.

The OIE listed the United States a "controlled-risk" risk country in 2007 after no further BSE outbreaks were reported there.

However, there have been fears of BSE entering Taiwan, since the government recently decided to open its market wider to U.S. beef starting Nov. 10, allowing in items such as bone-in beef, ground beef, intestines and processed beef that were considered at risk of spreading the disease.