No plans to end rule on older Canadian cattle: USDA | Reuters.ca
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has no plans to permanently scrap a rule that would allow the import of older cattle from Canada after an Alberta cow was found to have contracted mad cow disease from contaminated feed, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said on Wednesday.
"I don't see anything that indicates to me that this would stop that rule dead in its tracks, prohibit it from going forward," Johanns told reporters after meeting with Canadian Agriculture Minister Chuck Strahl in Washington.
USDA halted work on a proposal in July that would have allowed for imports of cattle over 30 months of age after a 50-year old Canadian cow was found with the fatal disease.
ohanns said USDA was taking a look at the rule but that the department had not set a date for when it would move forward with the measure.
"I don't see this as a long, long delay," said Johanns.
The Canadian federal food safety agency confirmed the animal had mad cow disease in July, making it the youngest animal in Canada to test positive since the first native-born case was discovered in 2003.
The animal, at the time the seventh mad cow case since 2003, was born five years after a 1997 ban on cattle feed containing rendered protein from cattle and other ruminants. Canada has since reported an eighth case of the disease.
Mad cow, formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, is believed to spread through contaminated feed.
USDA has said there is no impact on current beef trade with Canada, which is permitted to ship cattle less than 30 months old for slaughter and beef from young cattle for sale in the United States.
Canada and the United States are each others largest trading partner with about $1.5 billion in goods exchanged between the two countries each day.
