US not yet looking to Canada in mad cow case-CFIA
March 13, 2006
Reuters
WINNIPEG, Manitoba - Canadian officials have not been contacted regarding the possible origin of the U.S. cow that tested positive for mad cow disease Monday, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said.
"There's been no request to trace back from U.S. to Canadian authorities yet. It's still early in the investigation," said Mark Van Dusen, a CFIA spokesman.
A beef cow from a herd in Alabama tested positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, but the U.S. Department of Agriculture could not confirm the origin of the 10-year-old animal on Monday.
The third U.S. case of mad cow disease within 27 months was not expected to affect trade with Canada, Van Dusen said.
Both countries have had restrictions in place to prevent contaminated imports since 2003 when BSE was discovered in North America, first in Canada and later in the United States.
Canada's fourth native-born BSE case was confirmed in January and did not spur fresh trade restrictions by the United States, the country's biggest export market.
The United States and Canada banned the use of protein from ruminants, such as cattle, deer, sheep, elk and goats, from cattle feed in 1997. Contaminated feed is believed to be the most likely cause of infection.
Both countries also require meatpackers to remove specified risk materials from carcasses: brains, spinal cords and other nervous tissues most at risk of carrying the infective agent.
A glut of live animals has made it uneconomical for Canada to import live American cattle but it does import beef.
"We expect those (cattle) imports to resume shortly," said Dennis Laycraft, Canadian Cattlemen's Association executive vice-president.
