Riyadh : The Saudi Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture has imposed a temporary ban on importing cows from Spain following the detection of mad cow disease in some farms in the country.

The Saudi Ministry imposed the ban after receiving a notification from the World Organisation for Animal Health confirming an emergence of the disease in Spain, the report said on Saturday.

The mad cow disease is a fatal neurodegenerative disease in cattle that may be passed to humans who have eaten infected flesh.

The disease may be most frequently transmitted to humans by eating food contaminated with the brain, spinal cord or digestive tract of infected carcasses.

—IANS