Here’s some big news from yesterday.

Japan’s Agriculture Ministry said Thursday it confirmed that a cow from northern Japan had the country’s 29th case of mad cow disease. Tests on the 6 1/4 year-old dairy cow performed at the National Institute of Animal Health confirmed that the cow, which died at a ranch on Japan’s northernmost island of Hokkaido, was infected with the fatal illness. Japan has now confirmed 29 animals infected with the fatal illness — known formally as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE — since the first case in Japan was defected in 2001. Since then, Tokyo has begun taking steps to check every cow that is slaughtered or dies at ranches before it enters the food supply.

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