Health Law

A mad cow in Alberta

By Marler Clark

Food Safety News reports today that, according to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), bovine spongiform encephalopathy, commonly known as mad cow disease, was detected last month in a dairy cow from Alberta.

The agency said no part of the slaughtered cow was used for human or animal food and the case should not affect exports of Canadian cattle or beef. "Detection of a small number of additional BSE cases is fully expected" as Canada continues to progress in eradicating the disease, the agency said in an emailed statement to the online industry publication meatingplace.

Canada is considered a "controlled BSE risk" country, under World Organization for Animal Health rules, following the discovery of a cow with the disease in 2003. Since then, some 313,000 cattle have been tested under a national BSE surveillance program, and 18 cases of the disease have been confirmed. This latest was the first in more than a year.

Numerous markets closed to Canadian beef immediately after 2003. Most countries have since resumed accepting it.

CFIA, citing privacy concerns, did not release details about the farm where the infected cow was found, saying only that the animal was 6 1/2 years old (77 months) and the BSE was confirmed on Feb. 18. The agency said the case will be posted on the CFIA website on March 10 and reported to the World Organization for Animal Health.

Full post as published by Food Poison Blog on March 05, 2011 (boomark / email).