Canada Confirms 5th Mad Cow Case in 3 Years
Canada on Sunday confirmed a case of mad cow disease at a farm in British Columbia, the country’s fifth case since May 2003, when the United States closed its border to Canadian beef.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency, which had announced Thursday that it had a suspected case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, said no part of the animal entered the human food or animal feed systems.
In humans, meat products contaminated with BSE have been linked to more than 150 deaths, mostly in Britain.
The U.S. border was closed to Canadian beef three years ago after several BSE cases were detected in Canadian cows. Trade in meat and younger cows, which are believed to be less susceptible to the disease, resumed last June.
Inspectors have tested about 100,000 animals since Canada’s first case was detected in Alberta and have said they expect to find isolated cases of the disease.
The disease is believed to spread through ingestion of BSE-infected animal tissue.
Both countries have banned the use of cattle protein in animal feed.
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