Fraud exposes British to mad cow disease

LONDON, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- Inspectors in Britain believe widespread fraud at slaughterhouses may be exposing the public to meat contaminated with mad cow disease.

The inspectors accuse slaughterhouses of swapping samples from carcasses to stop them from failing tests to detect bovine spongiform encephalopathy, also known as mad cow disease, The Independent reports.

The practice of swapping was revealed by employees at two British slaughterhouses and a third case is under investigation in Northern Ireland but inspectors believe it is more widespread.

Earlier this month, beef was removed from supermarket shelves across Britain because of the failure to test just one cow's brain for BSE.

People who eat products infected with BSE can develop the incurable degenerative neurological disorder known as Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease.