Industry frets as Canada finds new mad cow case
January 23, 2006
Reuters
Jeffrey Jones
CALGARY, Alberta - A cow in Canada has tested positive for mad cow disease, officials said on Monday, sparking fears of another crisis in the fragile North American beef industry.
Canada confirmed its fourth home-grown case of the brain-wasting affliction just as the strain on its cattle industry from previous mad-cow-related trade bans had started to ease.
The announcement also came as the U.S. beef industry was trying to persuade Japan, a top export customer, to lift a new halt it slapped on U.S. beef shipments last week.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said a six-year-old Holstein-Hereford cow from a dairy farm in Alberta, the western province that is home to the biggest chunk of the country's cattle industry, had tested positive for mad cow disease.
"The animal was detected on the farm where it was born and no part of this animal entered the food for human consumption or feed for animal consumption purposes," Brian Evans, the agency's chief veterinarian, told a news conference.
The age of the cow is important in cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, the disease's scientific name. Canada and the United States banned the inclusion of protein from cows and other ruminant animals such as goats and sheep in cattle feed in 1997, following Britain's mad cow outbreak. Scientists believe the ban helps stop the spread of the disease.
However, not all the old feed had been disposed of when the ban kicked in. Regulations in Canada the United States recognize that a few mad cow cases may surface as result, industry officials said.
Three other cases of the disease, which has a human variant, have been traced to Canada, the first in May 2003.
That first case sparked fear about the safety of North America's food supply, and prompted countries around the world to slap restrictions on imports of Canadian beef and live cattle.
For Canadian producers, the biggest hit was a two-year ban on shipments to the United States, by far their biggest customer. It had been the destination of more than one million head of live cattle a year.
MULTIBILLION-DOLLAR LOSSES
By the time the U.S. Department of Agriculture reopened the border to animals under the age of 30 months in mid-2005, the industry had lost an estimated C$7 billion ($6 billion).
A U.S. rancher group tried unsuccessfully last year to have the courts overturn Washington decision to resume imports. Both countries have said Canadian beef is safe and among the most stringently monitored in the world.
In Washington, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said he expected no change in the status of beef and cattle imports from Canada.
Canadian industry leaders said they expected that reaction. "It's not unexpected that we're going to see a few more isolated cases. It's obviously unwelcome, but pretty well around the world there have been what's referred to as 'BARB' cattle. Those are born after the ruminant ban," said Dennis Laycraft, executive vice-president of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association.
Still, the announcement sparked worries in cattle country.
"If it shuts the country down like it did a couple years ago, we're in pretty big trouble," said Jamie Kohut, a rancher in southwestern Manitoba.
U.S. cattle prices rose on Monday as traders speculated on the odds of new trade restrictions.
The United States is dealing with its own cattle trade problems. Japan slapped a ban on imports last week after spinal material, believed to carry a risk of causing the human form of the disease, was found in a shipment of U.S. meat.
It is not yet known when that ban could be lifted, Japan's agriculture minister said on Monday.
Japan, which had been the top U.S. export market, just last month lifted a ban imposed in 2003 after a mad cow case, which was traced to Alberta, was discovered in Washington state.
U.S. inspectors have traveled to Japan to check American shipments. Johanns said U.S. processors will be under stricter scrutiny to meet Japanese standards.
(With reporting by Marcy Nicholson in Winnipeg, Gilbert Le Gras in Ottawa and Charles Abbott in Washington)
