BERLIN The two cabinet ministers at the center of the German mad cow scare face tough parliamentary questioning and renewed pressure to resign on Friday over allegations they failed to protect consumers from infected beef.

Health Minister Andrea Fischer and Farm Minister Karl-Heinz Funke have both admitted errors in their handling of a scare triggered by the discovery last November of the first case of the disease in a German-born animal.

Six more cases have been confirmed since then and, amid growing fears this could be merely the tip of the iceberg, the government has drawn up an action plan to overhaul farming practices and restore consumer confidence.

"There must be complete safety from the farmyard to the shop counter," Funke's ministry said in a statement that conceded there had been in the past "a lack of transparency" over the origin, ingredients and safety of German meat products.

Meanwhile, another report in this regard said Spain has confirmed three new cases of mad cow disease, taking to five the number of infected cattle found in the country since late last year.

Two of the new cases were found in animals in the northern region of Castille-Leon, while the third was in neighboring Galicia where the two previous cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) were detected in November, the Agriculture Ministry said in a statement.

"The detection systems set up in Spain have worked correctly," the statement said, adding the animals had been destroyed to avoid contaminating the food chain.

Earlier this week, officials said they suspected the two cows from separate farms in Castille Leon had died of BSE.

The human form of the disease, the brain wasting disorder variant Cretzfeldt-Jacob disease (VCJD) which is believed to be caused by eating contaminated beef, has killed more than 80 people in Britain and two people in France.

(Reuter)