New case of mad cow suspected in Canada
Inspectors testing dairy cow in British Columbia
Updated: 3:35 p.m. ET April 13, 2006
TORONTO - Federal officials said Thursday they were testing a 6-year-old dairy cow in British Columbia for mad cow disease, unsettling news for Canadian cattle ranchers still recovering from a two-year ban on their beef in the United States.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said it was trying to confirm whether the cow had bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE. Officials said no part of the animal entered the human food or animal feed systems.
The cow was identified on a Fraser Valley farm through a national BSE surveillance program. It could be the fifth case in Canada since May 2003, when the U.S. border was closed to Canadian beef after the first cases of mad cow were detected in Canada.
In a written statement, the inspection agency said the case would have no bearing on the safety of Canadian beef if the cow is found to be positive for BSE.
Inspectors have tested roughly 100,000 animals since Canada's first case was detected in Alberta three years ago and have said they expect to find isolated cases of the disease.
"Canada has a suite of internationally recognized safeguards that work together to provide high levels of human and animal health protection," the statement said.
But if the cow tests positive, it would be the second infection of an animal born after the U.S. and Canada banned feed containing added cattle protein in 1997 to prevent the disease from spreading. The disease is believed to spread only when cattle eat feed containing certain tissues from infected cattle.
If the British Columbia cow tests positive for BSE, it could mean that Canadian processing and feed plants are not complying with the ban.
Trade in cows younger than 30 months, as well as meat, resumed last July with the United States because they are believed to be at lower risk for the disease.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has been working on a new rule to allow cows older than 30 months ó along with their beef products and breeding animals ó to enter the United States.
U.S. meatpacking firms could also be disappointed by the latest case, as the industry is eager to start allowing older Canadian cattle to be shipped to the United States.
The U.S. National Meat Association said the industry lost some US $1.7 billion in revenue during the ban on Canadian cattle between May 2003 and July 2005, as fewer cows were processed and some packing houses were forced to close down or scale back.
The Canadian Cattlemen's Association, which represents some 90,000 beef producers, estimated they lost more than US $5.7 billion during the two-year ban.
Testing for BSE was expected to be completed over the weekend. If those tests are positive, inspectors would then identify other animals at potential risk and try to find out how and when the cow became infected.
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