About 5,000 German farmers demonstrated in Munich today demanding stricter control of imported animal feed and more aid to deal with the mad-cow crisis.
German Farmers' Association (DBV) president Mr Gerd Sonnleitner said the new Consumer Protection and Agriculture Minister Renate Kuenast had broad support for her new food safety policy but that this should also cover imported feed.
Mr Sonnleitner also demanded immediate refundng of the cost of destroying a cattle herd in which a case of the disease was found.
German farmers have protested against the official policy of killing a whole herd if just one animal is infected.
Backed by authorities in the state of Bavaria, they have called for the practice used in Switzerland, where only the sick animal's age-mates and immediate previous and following generations are destroyed.
In France, three new cases of mad-cow disease have been found, bringing to 24 the cases reported this year, the agriculture ministry said today.
The latest finds bring to 266 the number of cattle found infected with mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, in France since the disease appeared in 1991, the ministry said.
AFP