Health Minister Patrice Minors said she will be investigating whether Bermuda should continue to import US beef because of fears over mad cow disease.

Yesterday several Latin American countries announced bans on US beef imports following the confirmation of the first case of mad cow disease in the United States.

Colombia, Argentina, Peru, Venezuela, Uruguay, Nicaragua and Costa Rica said they would bar US beef imports, joining Mexico, Brazil and Chile, which had announced similar measures earlier this week.

Elsewhere, Egypt, Indonesia, Vietnam and Ukraine also announced measures on Friday to keep out American beef imports, while Japan, the largest market for US beef, formalised a temporary halt to the imports imposed when US officials first announced the suspected case Tuesday.

Mrs. Minors told : ?Our beef comes from the US. I will be investigating this.?

She said she expected the Consumer Affairs Department would take the lead on what action to take.

However one major local importer said it would continue to ship in US beef and said there was no need to panic.

Butterfield and Vallis General Manager Eddie Sousa said: ?At the moment we are taking our lead from the US and at this point in time it is still business as usual.

?Only one case has been reported there. From our position in Bermuda it is extremely low risk.

He said all meat imported here was inspected by the US Agriculture Department and certified.

?One isolated case at this point in time is not something which should create undue alarm or panic.

?We have been in touch with the health department and they have taken a similar view but we will be monitoring it closely.?