17th Mad Cow Found in Canada
The Alberta beef cow that is Canada's most recent case of mad cow disease was found dead on a farm and was destroyed without entering food or animal feed supplies, a spokesman with the Canadian government said on Thursday.
Canada Beef Export Federation president Ted Haney, who first confirmed the case in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday, said he did not intend to suggest that the cow was slaughtered.
The animal was tested on the Alberta farm, he said on Thursday.
The 6-year-old cow's carcass was destroyed and disposed of as per Canada's requirements for specified risk materials (SRM), which are the parts of cattle that are most likely to carry mad cow disease, said Tim O'Connor of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. The disease is also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).
The Canadian government confirmed the case to industry officials on February 25 but did not publicly provide details on its website until late Wednesday.
