BERLIN -- Germany confirmed its third case of mad cow disease on Wednesday and consumer anger at official inaction rose as a cabinet minister said further cases were now likely.

Health authorities in the southern state of Bavaria, which provides over a quarter of Germany's beef, confirmed they had found a third cow with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and said a further two suspected cases were under investigation.

Agriculture Minister Karl-Heinz Funke, who only weeks ago insisted Germany was free of the brainwasting disease linked to a similar illness in humans, said that these discoveries were probably only the start.

"There will be certainly further suspicious cases," he told Die Welt newspaper. "We have to assume there can be more BSE cases," he added.

Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has conceded that his government underestimated the risk to German cattle of the disease, thought to be transmitted through contaminated meat-based fodder.

But consumer groups rejected his government's assertion that it now had the problem under control with measures to ban such animal feed before a similar move comes into effect next year across the European Union.

"Anything to do with health must take top priority," said Friedrich Bultmann of Germany's Consumer Protection Association. "You have to react quickly in these cases, without thinking about the economic consequences."

The food scare took a new twist in Germany this week as Germany's beloved national delicacy, the predominantly pork-based sausage, was linked to BSE's deadly human equivalent, new variant creutzfeldt-jakob disease (VCJD).

The European Commission on Tuesday called on Germany to withdraw from sale the many Wurst products that have a small beef content.

But Health Minister Andrea Fischer tried to calm fears about the safety of sausages. She said there was no need to withdraw Wurst from shops because animal parts believed to cause VCJD were no longer used in its production.

"There has been no cow brains in sausage for a year and a day. There is no reason to take dramatic steps," Fischer told German Radio.

Fischer stressed consumers could continue to buy sausage, saying her comments on Tuesday that she would not be buying Wurst herself were because she does not eat much meat anyway.

Bavaria announced new safety measures on Tuesday as Austria, which borders the region to the south and has so far been BSE-free, asked Brussels for permission to ban German beef.

Fischer said the Austrian move was premature. "It presumes a level of security which does not exist," she said.

(Reuter)