Czechs ban imports of Slovak beef

The Czech government has banned imports of Slovak beef, saying the incidence of mad cow disease or BSE in Slovakia is too high. The ban came into force on Thursday. Slovakia responded to the Czech move by banning imports of Czech beef to Slovakia. Two weeks ago, Slovakia reported a new case of mad cow disease, the ninth since the first case was reported in September last year. The last four cases of the disease were detected in March.