http://today.reuters.com/news/newsA..._RTRUKOC_0_US-MADCOW-JAPAN.xml&archived=False TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan has confirmed its 21st case of mad cow disease in a 69-month-old Holstein cow on the northernmost main island of Hokkaido, the Farm Ministry said. The meat and intestines from the slaughtered cow will be destroyed and will not enter the food supply, the ministry said in a statement dated December 10. The cow was born in February 2000, which is before Japan banned the use of meat-and-bone (MBM) meal as feed for all animals, the ministry said. MBM is thought to cause mad cow disease. Japan adopted a policy of testing all cattle for mad cow in October 2001 after it discovered its first BSE case in a domestic herd. Although the government dropped the universal testing policy in August, local governments continue to test all cattle. The latest BSE case in Japan comes just ahead of a widely expected decision by Tokyo to lift a two-year ban on U.S. beef imports that was imposed after the discovery of a BSE case in the United States. Japanese media have reported that Japan would officially announce an easing of the ban on Monday.