A case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, better known as BSE or mad-cow disease, has been found in Alberta, federal Agriculture Minister Lyle Vanclief said Tuesday.
The news prompted the United States to quickly issue a ban on all Canadian beef and beef product imports.
Mr. Vanclief said at a press conference in Edmonton that one cow has been found and removed from the herd and the food distribution chain.
Cows graze in a field in Longview, Alta. on Tuesday. (Lorraine Hjalte/CP)
Related Articles
Internet Links
- What BSE is
- Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Foundation, Inc.
- U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- British BSE page
An Alberta meat inspector condemned the eight-year-old cow in a slaughterhouse — believing that it had pneumonia — on Jan. 31.
Because the symptoms that the animal displayed were consistent with pneumonia — not BSE — it was destroyed but not immediately tested. Instead, it was put into the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's surveillance program, which tests about 900 cattle carcasses a year for signs of BSE and 11 other diseases.
"Certainly, if there was a high probability of of [BSE] symptoms originally, it would have been tested immediately," said Dr. Greg Little, a veterinarian with the CFIA.
When the cow was finally tested at a federal laboratory last Friday, veterinarians suspected the presence of BSE and sent samples to another testing facility in Britain.
The positive results arrived back in Alberta Tuesday morning.
Mr. Vanclief stressed that the cow was completely removed from the slaughterhouse and did not go into the food supply.
"We have a very good testing system, and it worked," he said "It is important to stress that this is one cow ... and our surveillance is second to none in Canada and is extremely well regarded in the world."
The northern Alberta farm where the cow lived was quarantined as a precaution. When an investigation is completed, the 150-head herd will be destroyed.
Although Mr. Vanclief said that he had spoken to secretaries of agriculture in both the United States and Mexico, response from south of the border was swift.
The United States shut its borders to all imports of cattle and cattle products from Canada over the discovery, a statement from U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said.
"USDA is placing Canada under its BSE restriction guidelines and will not accept any ruminants or ruminant products from Canada pending further investigation," the statement said. "We are dispatching a technical team to Canada to assist in the investigation and will provide more detailed information as it becomes available."
The inclusion of ruminants means that all shipments of sheep and goats are also banned.
Ms. Veneman went on to say that the "risk to human health and the possibility of transmission to animals in the United States is very low."
The possible risk to human health comes from Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, a fatal brain illness that humans can acquire by eating beef products from animals infected with BSE. Processed meat products made from cows infected with BSE carry a particularly high risk for transmitting the disease.
Since 1995, more than 100 people in the United Kingdom have died from Creutzfeldt-Jakob.
<bf> <nm>Mr. Vanclief said he had discussed the possibility of a U.S. ban on Canadian beef imports with Ms. Veneman and was assured that any such order would be temporary.
"This is a case of one cow out of 3.5 million, and it was pulled from the food chain," he said. "If there are any actions taken, they will be on a very temporary basis."
Alberta Agriculture Minister Shirley McLellan also said that she believes the ban won't last long.
"We need to be very open and let our trade partners know we are doing everything in a very transparent way," she said. "I think what [they] will understand is that our system does work."
Beef is Alberta's top agricultural export, accounting for 39 per cent of all Canadian beef exports.
Canadian beef and veal exports to the U.S. amounted to $1.67-billion last year, or 77 per cent of Canada's total beef exports.
"We take any threat to our livestock industry very seriously," Ms. McLellan said.
When asked if the news would have a long-term impact on Alberta beef, Mr. Vanclief replied: "No. I'm having beef for lunch."
In a statement issued Tuesday, the Canadian Cattlemen's Association agreed with Mr. Vanclief.
"This is an isolated case and poses no risk to the health of consumers of Canadian beef," the statement read. "The focus must be on determining how this one cow became infected."
Canada has one previous case of BSE on record. Another Alberta cow, which was imported from the United Kingdom, tested positive for the disease in December of 1993.
Officials from the CFIA are still trying to determine whether the orgin of the newest infected cow was foreign or domestic.
