A separate department of food needs to be established in the wake of the latest BSE case, says the Labour party.
Its agriculture and food safety spokeswoman, Dr Mary Upton, said the discovery of a case of BSE in an animal born in 1999 highlighted the need for a department "which has responsibility for food alone and which is entirely separate from agriculture".
She said that "animal feed effectively becomes part of the human food chain and therefore must meet the highest safety standards".
The Dublin South-Central TD said this latest case "raises questions about the rigour with which animal feed has been policed".
Dr Upton also called on the Minister for Agriculture to reverse his decision to reduce meat inspection in factories.
These plants "should be subject to much more rigorous inspection", she said.