ROME, Jan. 15 (Associated Press) -- The first suspected case of mad cow disease in an Italian animal was found in cow at a slaughterhouse which supplies meat to McDonald's restaurants in Italy and elsewhere in Europe.

The slaughterhouse in Lodi, in the northern Lombardy region, belongs to the Cremonini group, which is the exclusive meat supplier for the American fast food giant's restaurants across Italy, a Cremonini spokesman, Massimiliano Parboni, said Monday.

[...]

McDonald's stood by its Italian supplier and asserted that the quality, traceability and safety" of its beef fully protect consumers.

"We have full trust in Cremonini, which has the country's highest quality procedures," said Alessandra di Montezemolo, senior director of European communications for the U.S. food giant.

The six-year old milking cow was born and raised in Lombardy. It came from a breeding farm near Brescia, which has what Parboni described as "occasional contacts" with Cremonini.  
 
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