AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – A 10-year-old cow in the Netherlands has tested positive for BSE, more commonly known as “mad cow” disease, the first such result in more than two years, the Dutch government said on Friday.

The government ministry responsible for food quality said the animal tested positive for the brain-wasting disease bovine spongiform encephalopathy at a slaughterhouse.

Homebred beef cattle are seen at a local cattle market in Hongseong, about 170 km (106 miles) south of Seoul in this July 29, 2008 file photo. A 10-year-old cow in the Netherlands has tested positive for BSE, more commonly known as “mad cow” disease, the first such result in more than two years, the Dutch government said. (REUTERS/Lee Jae-Won)

It was the first positive test for BSE in the country since May 2008, the ministry said in a statement.

A spokesman for the ministry told Reuters the cow’s meat was withdrawn from the food chain after a first positive test, while a second test confirmed the result.

All cows sent to slaughter in the country are tested and held aside for the results before their meat enters the system.

Mad cow disease is of particular concern because it has been known to cause a related brain-wasting disease in humans who have eaten contaminated meat.

Three people have died in the Netherlands from Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease after eating meat from a BSE positive cow. The last reported death was in January 2009.

(Reporting by Ben Berkowitz; editing by James Jukwey)