Spain has detected two more suspected cases of mad cow disease but the country's agriculture minister today urged consumers not to panic and rejected a call from opposition parties for his resignation.
As protests by cattle farmers threatened to cause meat shortages, Mr Miguel Arias Canete said the two new suspected cases had been reported in the northern region of Asturias.
So far Spain has confirmed five cases of the disease in northwestern Galicia and the northern Castille and Leon regions, both of which neighbour Asturias.
There is too much social alarm, Canete told Antena 3 television, adding that no human cases of the disease had been found in Spain.
"There is no other animal product, be it fish or poultry, which is subject to such stringent checks", he said.
Scientists suspect that eating affected meat may cause the human variant of the fatal brain-wasting disease, which has no known cure.
The crisis has caused estimated losses of 11 billion pesetas (62 million) per month in Spain's meat sector as beef sales have plunged since the first mad cow case was found in November.
Spain's government has drawn up a 300 million emergency package to compensate farmers and improve detection.
But farmers have continued to block slaughterhouses and meat markets across the country in a bid by leading farmers' groups to demand more aid.
Reuters